WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.519 So, we're going to go back to that passage this morning and have a look at Romans 8, 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:11.960 from verse 12 to verse 17. 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.320 For those who are visiting with us today, we've been doing a study in Romans for quite 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:22.120 a while before the summer, and then we took a break, and then we've come back to it. 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:27.480 And we're looking up to just before the end of the year at Romans, middle of chapter 5 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.120 through to chapter 11. 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:34.880 And this is the section that we're at this week, okay? 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:35.880 Romans chapter 8. 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:41.359 So, if you have Bibles, keep it open, page 944, or on your phones, or however you're 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:43.719 choosing to look at the Bible this morning. 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:48.120 Now, I want, in my Christian life, I want to enjoy God. 00:00:48.120 --> 00:00:51.480 That's one of the things I really want to do. 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:56.439 And that's actually the theme of Romans, because at the end of Romans, as we saw last week, 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:00.879 it speaks about the whole of the purpose of what he's writing is that we have joy in 00:01:00.879 --> 00:01:04.519 the Lord, that we rejoice, that we are happy in our Christian life. 00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:11.400 So, I want to enjoy God, and I want you to enjoy God as well in your Christian lives, 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:14.039 because that's really the best way to live your life. 00:01:14.039 --> 00:01:20.280 If you're happy, if you're enjoying life, then you know that that is a great foundation 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:22.039 for your life. 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:28.400 I fear so often, and I know from my own experience, that we struggle. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:33.880 We struggle in our Christian lives, and we don't really enjoy God. 00:01:33.880 --> 00:01:37.320 And you know the great thing about that is, well, it's not a great thing, but one of the 00:01:37.320 --> 00:01:41.400 great things coming out of that is that God knows that. 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:43.400 God understands that in our lives. 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:47.200 He understands that often in our lives, we don't understand Him. 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:48.800 We don't enjoy Him. 00:01:48.800 --> 00:01:51.320 He knows that we're in a battle. 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:58.159 He knows that we face all kinds of questions and all kinds of doubts, and He knows and appreciates 00:01:58.159 --> 00:01:59.159 that. 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:03.519 That's why so much of the Bible, so much of His Word is spent dealing with these issues 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:07.519 for us and helping us to see things differently. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:08.519 That's what He wants us to do. 00:02:08.519 --> 00:02:12.079 He wants us to see things differently in our lives. 00:02:12.079 --> 00:02:15.879 And I want you to be reminded of what's tremendously important. 00:02:15.879 --> 00:02:17.560 Verses 6 and 7, we didn't read this. 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:23.920 We looked at it last week for to set the mind on the flesh's death, but to set the mind 00:02:23.920 --> 00:02:26.199 on the Spirit is life and peace. 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:29.039 So mindset was a really important focus from last week. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:30.039 Wasn't it? 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:33.439 We looked at the mindset of the Christian, or the mindset of our lives. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:38.599 And that's really just what when Paul is speaking about, mindset he's speaking or setting our 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:46.159 minds is our focus, what's our attention, what engages our energy, what we know, what 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:49.719 becomes the governing principle that's at the very heart of our lives. 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:55.199 It's kind of our inner being, the very core of our, the root of our thinking. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:03:02.319 And he's saying as we set our minds in the right way, then it helps us to enjoy God better 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.159 in our lives. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:09.639 I think you should try and fuse, however you do, go home and do it in your own way. 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:17.279 Use chapter 8 of Romans into your own heads, into your psyche, into your mindset, into 00:03:17.279 --> 00:03:20.199 your being, into the core of your being. 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:21.199 Return to it again and again. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:25.279 And not just this small passage, but the whole of Romans 8, because it's kind of pivotal 00:03:25.279 --> 00:03:32.279 to our understanding of the whole of the gospel, or the whole of the book and letter of Romans. 00:03:32.279 --> 00:03:33.719 Meditate on it. 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:40.280 Look market, highlight it with a bright yellow pen in your Bibles. 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:41.560 Pray it. 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:43.439 Make a poster of it. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.479 Make it your ringtone. 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:46.479 Memorize it. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:54.520 Do whatever you can to focus on this chapter, because it's so important in founding and 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:57.439 giving us the right mindset. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.319 It helps us towards the right mindset in our lives. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:05.519 If we can't keep ignoring a chapter like this, the truth in a chapter like this, and expect 00:04:05.519 --> 00:04:10.479 what it means to flourish as a Christian and enjoy God, because we know we struggle with 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:15.639 God and we know we don't enjoy Him, and so much of our lives, we're just content with 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:16.639 that. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.000 And we think, sugar, shoulders, that's the way it is. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:20.759 That's just the way it is. 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:26.519 And yet He understands and wants our mindset to change. 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:30.599 In many ways, I think the question is how much we allow the truth to change in our lives. 00:04:30.599 --> 00:04:34.799 I was at a press conference a couple of weeks ago, it was actually in the hall down here. 00:04:34.799 --> 00:04:39.639 And because they didn't have anyone else to do the talk, I had to speak. 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:42.879 And speaking about pastoral work. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:46.639 And one of the things that was kind of coming out from it was that the preaching of the 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:53.799 Word on a Sunday, the sermon on a Sunday, was a great way to pastor people and to meet 00:04:53.799 --> 00:04:54.799 all their needs. 00:04:54.799 --> 00:04:56.199 Now, I agree with that. 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:58.279 Don't get me wrong, I agree with that. 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:03.959 But I think there's a danger for a minister of the gospel to use that to become lazy and 00:05:03.959 --> 00:05:05.959 to make his ministry a non-contact sport. 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:10.120 So he says, all I need to do is just stand up from the front and preach and God will 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:12.959 pastor everyone and the Holy Spirit will work. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:17.599 Now, that might be idealistic. 00:05:17.599 --> 00:05:21.680 But I think if that is to happen, it depends a lot on our mindset, your mindset and my 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:27.600 mindset as well, and I can't just be hiding behind here or be 12 feet above contradiction 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:29.840 up there. 00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:35.360 We all need to come under the sound of God's Word, whether it's preached or read or listened 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:40.319 to, however we do it, with a mindset to being transformed by His Word, you know? 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:42.120 Because you look back in your life. 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:43.120 You think about it. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:44.120 Take a few minutes. 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:45.399 Don't listen to me for the next minute and a half. 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:49.399 But just think about how many sermons you've listened to. 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:52.039 How many passages of the Bible you've read? 00:05:52.039 --> 00:05:58.959 How many good gospel Christian books have you fed yourself on? 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:01.879 And how much changes are in your life? 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:05.079 With all that richness, how much change? 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:06.799 How much transformation? 00:06:06.799 --> 00:06:11.120 Are we battling with the same things week in and week out, day in and day out? 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.560 Are we being transformed by Him? 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:16.919 And please don't get me wrong. 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:22.199 These things are all utterly crucial, but our mindset is also very important as we come 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:31.200 to these things, that we see who God is and recognize that God is able, and God can change 00:06:31.200 --> 00:06:32.200 our mindset. 00:06:32.200 --> 00:06:38.120 You know, God's argument to the Roman church here through Paul is that He wants to highlight 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:39.720 the reasons for a new mindset. 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:42.759 He's speaking in that verse that I read about life and peace. 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:45.040 That's the core of everything, isn't it? 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:48.160 In Christ we have life and peace. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:54.439 And when we recognize that, and we recognize the truth that is unfolding, He wants to begin 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:59.600 to transform how we live our lives beyond these walls, beyond the chapter we read in 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:02.160 church, beyond our personal devotions. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:07.560 He wants us to be transformed by how we take these things and how they mold and change 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:13.320 our mindset for the other six and a half days, the hundred and sixty-six hours of our existence 00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:19.040 that is molded by our mindset, by how we think and by what we think about God. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:24.000 This hour is hugely important, and ministers think it's much more important than everyone 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:29.079 else, but it is really important, and it's God's way, one of God's ways of helping us 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:30.759 to recalibrate. 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:36.639 It's intended to inspire, to remind, to renew our perspective under God and through His 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:42.279 Word that as Christians we have an incredible partner in the living God in our lives as 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:48.159 we come to Him for redemption, and now lives in us by His Holy Spirit as someone who's 00:07:48.159 --> 00:07:53.519 committed to you and committed to your healing and who frees you up to cooperate with Him 00:07:53.519 --> 00:08:01.199 and expects from us obedience, nothing less, out of love and out of gratitude. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:06.439 So how do we transform our mindset so that we are enjoying God, which is the theme in 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:10.519 many ways of Romans as it comes to this end of joy and life that He speaks about? 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:12.519 What did you say? 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:13.519 Just say two things. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:16.240 The first thing is we can do it with God. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:21.799 We can begin to enjoy God because we realize God is with us. 00:08:21.799 --> 00:08:25.399 Verse 11, which we didn't read, which was the end of the last section, says, If the 00:08:25.399 --> 00:08:29.599 Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus 00:08:29.599 --> 00:08:33.559 from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit which dwells 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:34.559 in you. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:38.000 And then verse 12, which we started with, So then brothers, we are debtors not to the 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:42.200 flesh to live according to the flesh. 00:08:42.200 --> 00:08:47.240 We are debtors not to live, but we are to live according to the Spirit. 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:51.279 So we can have our mindset changed because that's what He's speaking about. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:57.039 He's got this word so then or therefore, which links us to the previous section. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:02.240 We can do it because we have the power of God's Spirit with us. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:06.679 And He's referring back to the power of God's Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:08.279 It's the resurrection power. 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:13.120 He who raised Jesus from the dead, that's the same power that's available to us. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:18.359 The power of the eternal God who destroyed the power of death on the cross and death's 00:09:18.359 --> 00:09:24.919 grip on humanity is the power that is available to change our mindset to transform us from 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:27.759 the inside out. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:29.559 So that our desire, you know, we struggle so much. 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:30.559 Don't we have our desires? 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:31.559 Right. 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:32.559 I do. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.319 I'm not saying that everyone else does, but I'm just being general. 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:41.560 I always, often, and I struggle with my desires and my mindset because I fail to recognize 00:09:41.560 --> 00:09:46.760 who is available, who loves me so much and who is powerful to change me. 00:09:46.760 --> 00:09:50.520 It's great Creator God that we're speaking about on Wednesday night. 00:09:50.520 --> 00:09:51.680 Have you ever driven a truck? 00:09:51.680 --> 00:09:56.280 I don't drive trucks very much, but you've got to imagine driving a truck. 00:09:56.280 --> 00:10:00.840 And you've got a puncture on that truck, big truck, big wheel. 00:10:00.840 --> 00:10:04.880 And what you have to do is you have to lift the truck in order to get the wheel changed. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.240 You've got to decide the truck. 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:08.879 And you can't lift it. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:15.159 There's no way you're going to be able to lift that truck, but you get a big truck jack. 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:18.600 And a big truck jack just comes in, you can just pump the handle. 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:20.919 And this truck all of a sudden lifts really easily. 00:10:20.919 --> 00:10:25.399 And you don't, it seems effortless to be able to change the tire on a big truck because 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:32.000 you've got this power that's available to you to change things. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:35.480 This house in the Highlands in Invergordon in Rostkeen where there was a minister there 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:36.480 had a massive big garden. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:39.440 And I wanted to really change that garden at one point. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:43.279 And so I got out of my spade and started digging. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:48.759 And it was hugely frustrating and hugely annoying and hugely unproductive because I wanted to 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:49.759 do so much. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:54.399 And it was only a tiny little bit of this massive big garden that was being changed until a 00:10:54.399 --> 00:11:00.879 friend with a digger, a JCB came along and did all the transformation in one day. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:04.120 Have you ever seen these diggers scoop up the ground? 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:06.419 More than you could dig in a whole day. 00:11:06.419 --> 00:11:08.240 Just scooped up in one go. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:09.240 Effortless. 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:11.720 Power, such power in a digger. 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:12.720 Wonderful. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:15.039 I wish I could drive one of these things. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:20.960 But you see the difference having power makes into situations that seem helpless. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:27.759 And that we have this remarkable power available to us, the power of the Spirit who raised 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:34.519 Jesus from the dead, who is able to transform us in our mindset and in our hearts. 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:41.480 And maybe we don't go to Him because we somehow pragmatically think He's powerless, or possibly 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:46.240 because we're asking for the wrong things and He isn't giving us what we think we should 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.480 have, power of the Spirit. 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:53.960 We can do it with God because of His power, but also because of our obligation. 00:11:53.960 --> 00:12:00.480 Our brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, but to the Spirit of God. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.879 In other words, we are obliged. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:05.560 Another version has it as we are obligated. 00:12:05.560 --> 00:12:08.040 So we're obliged to the living God. 00:12:08.040 --> 00:12:09.400 We're in debt to Him. 00:12:09.400 --> 00:12:14.320 You know, before we were born, He has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:21.960 He's opened up the way to God for us to hope in a future as we put our trust in Christ. 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:29.120 And we are obliged to actively resist and give no oxygen to doing or thinking what is 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.000 wrong, what He hates. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:38.759 So you've got this amazing verse here which says, you have to put to death, verse 13, 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:39.759 the deeds of the body. 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:44.600 That's a really strong description of what we're to do, illustration of what we're to 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:45.600 do. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:46.600 We're to put it to death. 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:51.160 We're to give no oxygen to the things that God hates in our lives. 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:52.159 That's our responsibility. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:57.439 You know that same garden in Roskidon, if you have weeds in that garden and you want 00:12:57.439 --> 00:13:01.600 to weed free, what do you do? 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.319 You can leave the weeds. 00:13:04.319 --> 00:13:05.319 That's an option. 00:13:05.319 --> 00:13:08.439 It's not going to be a very good one because weeds grow quicker than plants. 00:13:08.439 --> 00:13:11.639 So they will really grow quickly. 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:16.919 You can feed them and they're going to grow even quicker and they're going to overrun 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:18.799 the garden before you know it. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.679 Or you actively pull them out by the roots. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.599 You know, we need to do that. 00:13:23.599 --> 00:13:25.919 It's the principle of atrophy in the world that we live in. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:29.719 If you leave things on their own, they will just decay or deteriorate. 00:13:29.719 --> 00:13:34.359 And if you want a beautiful garden, it will soon be covered in weeds if we don't actively 00:13:34.359 --> 00:13:36.639 pull out these weeds by the roots. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:40.279 It's not enough simply to ignore them or leave them. 00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:43.799 And that's really the image that we're given here, we're to put to death the deeds of the 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:44.799 body. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:52.559 The selfishness, the greed, the arrogance, the lust, the gossiping, the anger, the frustrations, 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.279 all the things that God tells us are damaging for ourselves. 00:13:56.279 --> 00:14:02.399 He wants us to actively get rid of any heat and powers us to do so. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:06.079 And that introduces to us a different mindset, doesn't it? 00:14:06.079 --> 00:14:12.519 When we recognize that, because often our mindset is, I don't like being obligated. 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:14.719 We resist it. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.200 We don't like the thought of being obligated to anyone. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:22.440 And maybe until we see the value of changing our mindset, one thing to another. 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:29.000 I don't like to be told to revise for exams until maybe I realize the value of passing 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.040 exams and the benefit of that. 00:14:32.040 --> 00:14:37.600 And I can see it's worth labor, it's worth work, it's worth resisting my natural inclination 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:40.279 not to do these things. 00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:41.840 I don't like being obligated. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.639 In fact, quite the opposite, we often think, well, God actually owes me. 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:47.200 I don't owe God. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:49.200 God owes me. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:53.160 You know, that sense of entitlement that we feel and that we have. 00:14:53.160 --> 00:14:57.680 You know, I've asked, I've prayed, I've demanded, I've tried, I've obeyed. 00:14:57.680 --> 00:14:58.759 Why don't I get from God? 00:14:58.759 --> 00:14:59.840 Why doesn't God give to me? 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:01.960 Give me, give me, give me, God. 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:02.960 Why? 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:04.600 He owes me. 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:08.360 I've come to church, I've read my Bible. 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:13.519 I don't swear, He owes me. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:14.519 Is that right? 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:16.360 Is that our mindset that God owes us? 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:21.240 Do we find that mindset coming up again and again in our hearts when we don't find our 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:23.440 prayers being answered the way we want? 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:24.440 God owes me. 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:25.440 Why isn't He answering? 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:26.800 Why is He allowing me to go through this? 00:15:26.800 --> 00:15:28.320 He owes me a good life. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:30.800 He owes me a clear run. 00:15:30.800 --> 00:15:32.320 He owes me. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:38.480 It's as we see who Jesus is and what He has done and our debt of love to Him that our 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:39.480 mindset changes. 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:40.480 That's the first thing. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:46.879 The second thing that this passage speaks about, it speaks about the great power of God 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:49.840 to enable us to change, that that should change our mindset. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:54.240 But the second thing it speaks about is that we have been adopted by God. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:00.440 Fantastic theological truth that we are God's children, we are adopted by God, verses 14 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:05.920 to 18, that second section, for those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God, for 00:16:05.920 --> 00:16:09.000 He didn't receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:12.640 You received a spirit of adoption by which sons we cry, Abba, Father. 00:16:12.640 --> 00:16:15.840 In case we were adopted by God. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.200 And that's a great truth, isn't it? 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.720 It's a tremendously important truth for us. 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:23.240 And the first thing is it reminds us that we needn't be afraid. 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:24.960 We needn't be afraid. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:28.720 You didn't receive again the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:33.960 So we're not to be afraid because we've been adopted as God's children. 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:35.840 Fear is a terrible thing, isn't it? 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:37.680 Fear is an awful thing. 00:16:37.680 --> 00:16:43.160 And we need to understand when Paul, in many ways, he speaks here about slavery in a different 00:16:43.160 --> 00:16:44.660 way. 00:16:44.660 --> 00:16:48.160 He speaks about two different ways of slavery. 00:16:48.160 --> 00:16:54.879 Slavery is the concept of a willing servant, a loving debt, which we've looked at already 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:56.200 in Romans. 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:01.080 What he also talks about in this sense here is enslavement from which you cannot escape, 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:02.080 despair, doom. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.600 He says, you don't need to be afraid. 00:17:04.600 --> 00:17:09.920 Now, you just pictured an ugly father. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.279 Pictured an ugly father. 00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:13.360 And that invokes, doesn't it? 00:17:13.360 --> 00:17:15.720 What it invokes fear and dread. 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:21.120 You know, a father that's distant or disinterested or violent. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:27.000 A father who may be abandoned you as a child, your mindset, if that's been your experience 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:32.639 or if that is what you think, recoils from calling God father, doesn't it? 00:17:32.639 --> 00:17:37.359 Because you're fearful when you think of a father because of the experiences you might 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:38.559 have had. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:44.599 And so even you might attribute to God that ugliness of harshness and oppressiveness and 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:46.799 abandonment and of distance. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:52.319 It's very difficult if you have had that kind of father to change the mindset to allow 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:58.839 you to recognize him or recognize this truth as a great truth. 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:03.079 Having a good father humanly speaking will certainly help. 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:06.359 It will help us to understand what God is saying. 00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:11.159 But we must put aside both of these things, even a good earthly father or a terrible earthly 00:18:11.159 --> 00:18:14.559 father that you have had dreadful experiences of. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:21.720 And remember that in many ways that what God is telling us here is primary, is the reality 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:25.879 of what real fatherhood is like. 00:18:25.879 --> 00:18:34.279 And he says something, well he doesn't, but Jesus says something a bit scary in John chapter 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:36.159 1. 00:18:36.159 --> 00:18:40.960 John chapter 1 and verse 11, John says it here of Jesus. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:45.880 He said, He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him. 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:50.039 But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:54.440 of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:56.920 man, but of God. 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:00.799 So the scary thing is that it's not universal fatherhood that's been spoken of here. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:06.360 Now there is a sense in which we all belong to God and His family as God all created 00:19:06.360 --> 00:19:07.920 in His image. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:12.279 What God's word reminds us that we're estranged children by nature, we're estranged because 00:19:12.279 --> 00:19:16.400 of our sin and our separation and our sinful nature. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:25.279 This doctrine of our adoption into the family of God is firmly placed in the gift of new 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:30.759 life through Jesus Christ and what He has done in the cross, and by our accepting Him 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:35.279 as the only way of the estrangement being dealt with and being back in His family in 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:37.080 a really special way. 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:40.839 Now if that's a huge challenge today, if you've just drifted into church and you're 00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:46.319 not a Christian, and the challenge is to not presume that, yeah, well we're all jock 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:50.439 Tamsins, Bernes, and we all belong to God and we're all His children, but He says in 00:19:50.439 --> 00:19:56.599 a really powerful way through His word that our sin of us is estranged us from Him and 00:19:56.599 --> 00:20:01.599 that we need to come to Him through Jesus Christ, recognize the tension we feel, the 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:06.159 sin that we feel, the hostility, the guilt, all that we feel, and come to Jesus Christ 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:10.680 and recognize that outside of Christ all is not good. 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:14.600 We need to be back into His family. 00:20:14.600 --> 00:20:20.360 But what we have here is an act of adoption, and Paul's speaking to the church in Rome, 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:26.320 and in Roman culture adoption was fairly common, much more so than in the Hebrew culture in 00:20:26.320 --> 00:20:27.320 Roman society. 00:20:27.320 --> 00:20:34.759 It was common for a man, a man of means, a person of means who didn't have a son, who 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:40.160 didn't have an heir, it was quite common for him to adopt someone, maybe a boy or a 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:46.799 teenager or a young man, to adopt them, someone they trusted, someone they valued, to adopt 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.680 them into their family so that they would receive the inheritance. 00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:53.119 It was always important to keep the name. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:56.559 They were given a new name, their debts were paid if they had any, their ongoing debts 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:00.879 were covered, they had the responsibility to honor their new father, and this was quite 00:21:00.879 --> 00:21:04.440 a common legal practice in Rome. 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:09.720 This act of adoption, and he's saying that the son would be the heir who would receive 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:15.279 the vast majority of the inheritance. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:18.920 Maybe you're squirming a little bit here as a woman and you're thinking, well, this is 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:23.400 a bit sexist language that we're adopted as sons, why can't it say we're adopted as sons 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:24.400 and daughters? 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:28.759 Well, I think as it's written into the context, there's something very important about what 00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:29.759 Paul says. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:35.279 Paul is saying, yes, in the culture of Rome, it was the man, it was the son, and it was 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:39.879 only a son who would receive the heir, would receive the adoption and would receive the 00:21:39.879 --> 00:21:40.879 inheritance. 00:21:40.879 --> 00:21:47.039 But he's saying that privilege which was given only to one male who was adopted into the family, 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:53.279 he said, it is the privilege of every believer, of men and women, everyone is given this unique 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:56.839 special privilege who comes to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:01.759 This radically different one from what society was offering. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:08.319 In a sense, it would be the same, men can't get too upset when Jesus calls the church 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:10.439 the bride of Christ. 00:22:10.439 --> 00:22:14.000 It's using an illustration, it's not being sexist in any way, it's using an illustration 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.879 and it's important to remember that when we come to a passage like this. 00:22:17.879 --> 00:22:22.079 It's about legal standing and it's about the inheritance we receive. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:28.039 It's not about privilege of being male or female in that sense. 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:32.079 It's the act of adoption which enables us to call God Abba Father. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:36.399 Now this is a really well known verse, isn't it? 00:22:36.399 --> 00:22:41.799 And it does speak about the idea of intimacy and closeness. 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:49.279 Abba, people say that traditionally it's the name that became the name of the little children 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:53.839 who can use daddy, we can call God daddy. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:57.200 And that's true. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:00.119 It is that intimate name. 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:02.160 Jesus uses it actually in Gethsemane. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:10.359 He says, when he prays, a very solemn way and it doesn't belittle it. 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:18.000 Sometimes I feel saying daddy maybe doesn't quite grasp it but he said Abba Father, if 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.519 this cup can pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done. 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:25.680 There's this great closeness. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:27.160 He needed that closeness, didn't he? 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:29.079 Because everyone had abandoned him. 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:34.839 But he also recognized the glory and authority of the God into whose presence he was coming. 00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:41.720 For me, in terms of my own psyche, dad is the great, you know, I never really used the 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:45.799 word daddy but dad would be the great parallel in my lingo. 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:49.759 It's got a great weight to it, dad for me. 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:52.960 Dad, Christ is a great name. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:55.960 It just evokes so much for me. 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:57.639 It might be different for you. 00:23:57.639 --> 00:24:05.159 It's a recognition of both intimacy and love and goodness, but it's more than just a friend. 00:24:05.159 --> 00:24:06.559 It's loving authority too. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:07.839 There's that Abba Father. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:15.599 It's a great picture that God brings us into this loving, just intimate family setting 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:18.039 where the Redeemer is Jesus. 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:23.359 The Father has sent him and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and that we are united 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:27.279 to the Trinity in this marvelous way. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:32.119 And it's in ways that you might never have dreamed of, might never have experienced in 00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:40.279 human terms, might never have had, or what you strive to offer today as a parent. 00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:45.199 And it's great because he gives us the mindset of a child as an ACS where children were adopted 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:50.000 into the family and he goes on to speak about as being children of God and of children in 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:51.000 ears. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.799 And I think that's very important in the context of joy as well because he wants us to have 00:24:55.799 --> 00:24:58.600 the mindset of a child, I think. 00:24:58.600 --> 00:25:03.279 I don't mean by being immature and by blowing raspberries and all that kind of stuff. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:09.279 What I mean by having the mindset of a child is that we, you know what children are like? 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:11.279 They enjoy laughter and fun. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:12.880 How often have you said it as a grown-up? 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:15.320 I don't laugh as much as I used to as a child. 00:25:15.320 --> 00:25:18.240 What you have in your life used to be filled with laughter? 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:22.000 A child in that secure family setting that we've been envisaging here is someone who 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:27.120 is loving, who is learning, there's an innocence, they can make friends with anyone. 00:25:27.120 --> 00:25:30.400 There's sometimes with children a slight naivety because of that. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:34.440 There's community, there's growth, there's trust, there's discipline, there's protection, 00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:35.440 security. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:38.000 You know, a dad or mum, they'll be there. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.960 Dad and mum know what to do. 00:25:39.960 --> 00:25:40.960 Dad will help me. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.759 It's a tremendous thing. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:52.720 And you know, for us often in that situation as children, there's a fear in discipline, 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:57.720 but not a fear of punishment so much as a fear of disappointment, isn't it? 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:03.840 Sometimes it may be a fear of punishment, but there's a fear of disappointment. 00:26:03.840 --> 00:26:09.480 I don't like seeing my mum and dad sad because of how I'm living. 00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:14.480 And that picks the mindset of what God is saying here about us as children. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:19.920 The importance of being joyful in our Christian lives, of more laughter and more fun and more 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:23.839 security and more recognition of who we are in Jesus. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:29.240 I could speak all day about that, but we don't have time. 00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:30.740 But think on that. 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:32.140 Think on your own childhood. 00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:35.799 Think on the love and the joy and the peace. 00:26:35.799 --> 00:26:40.079 And even think if it wasn't like that, that you longed for it to be like that and that 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:44.440 we can take some of these illustrations and apply them to our life in Christ because we 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:49.519 know who He is and we know we can call Him Abba Father with that intimacy of knowing 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:50.519 Him. 00:26:50.519 --> 00:26:51.519 That's what it speaks of. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:54.119 It speaks of the intimacy of knowing Him. 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:58.919 Not knowing about Him, not having theological knowledge, but knowing Him in our lives and 00:26:58.919 --> 00:26:59.919 in our hearts. 00:26:59.919 --> 00:27:02.839 And it also speaks of assurance. 00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:07.319 You know, the Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are children of God. 00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:08.319 It witnesses. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:16.799 You know, when I started my ministry, and even before that when I was growing up, but 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:20.399 particularly after I started my ministry, many people would come up to me, oh, you're 00:27:20.399 --> 00:27:21.879 very like your father. 00:27:21.879 --> 00:27:26.559 Because my dad was a minister as well, and he was a minister here actually some of the 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:27.559 time. 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:33.679 And one old lady saying, you're very like your father, but you'll never be the preacher 00:27:33.679 --> 00:27:34.679 he was. 00:27:34.679 --> 00:27:37.599 Cheers, hen. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:42.639 So anyway, that sometimes happens, you know, people have different opinions. 00:27:42.639 --> 00:27:48.119 But the older I get, the more I know and appreciate that I'm my father's son. 00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:54.679 And my thinking, my looks, he was a dashing, handsome old man. 00:27:54.680 --> 00:28:00.759 And my attitudes, so I know I'm not legitimate. 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:01.759 Tumbleweed. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:02.759 Because I cross the room. 00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:03.759 No, I know that. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:04.759 I know. 00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:05.759 I know. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:11.640 There's an assurance about that I testify with my own experiences that I'm His son. 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:12.960 I'm His child. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:17.000 And that's kind of what he's God speaking about here is that the Spirit of God testifies 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:22.799 with us as we become like Christ, as we follow Christ. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:28.759 I think there's something extremely miraculous and powerful in these words. 00:28:28.759 --> 00:28:33.480 And I'm not sure sometimes how he does it, but the Spirit does testify with our Spirit 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:35.480 that we belong to Jesus. 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:38.279 It may be by the unhappiness we feel at our sin. 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:43.279 It may be just at the times we can praise God and worship Him for who He is, that we 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:44.279 want to obey Him. 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:49.599 There's lots of different ways that we find that our mindset, that important mindset, 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:50.759 is changing. 00:28:50.759 --> 00:28:57.079 That sense of loving obligation that we're wrestling with, we're sad. 00:28:57.079 --> 00:28:58.079 We're disappointed. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:02.640 Or we're sad when we know we've disappointed Him, when we've disobeyed Him and we want 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:03.640 to change. 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:05.079 The Spirit testifies. 00:29:05.079 --> 00:29:10.160 And that reminds us then as we close that we are heirs. 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:15.039 As children we are heirs, like we mentioned earlier, we're heirs of God and fellow heirs 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:16.039 with Christ. 00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:20.240 And there's another 10 or 12 sermons in that, isn't there? 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:24.160 And we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.720 We share in everything that Jesus Christ has won for us. 00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:31.759 Joint heirs with Jesus, heirs of God. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:34.559 I mean, it speaks for itself. 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:37.279 I can't add anything to the significance and importance of that. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:42.680 You know, he's usually for an inheritance to be evoked and there needs to be a death. 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:47.079 Well, the death has already been in Jesus, but there's also resurrection. 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:52.519 And the story's only begun that there is righteousness and freedom and transformation and belonging 00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:59.919 and an unimaginable future in our inheritance with Jesus Christ. 00:29:59.919 --> 00:30:04.679 The heir in Roman society got the lion's share. 00:30:04.679 --> 00:30:08.480 We get the lion's share and the lion. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:10.399 We get the lion of the tribe of Judah. 00:30:10.399 --> 00:30:11.399 We get His presence. 00:30:11.399 --> 00:30:12.519 We get His nearness. 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:19.799 He keeps nothing back for every one of His children, and as part of that, we also get 00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:21.160 His suffering. 00:30:21.160 --> 00:30:22.559 We share in that. 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:27.879 We share in belonging to Christ and the suffering that comes from belonging to Christ, the suffering 00:30:27.879 --> 00:30:35.759 of dealing, putting to death sin and the suffering of being associated with Jesus in a world 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:40.519 that is hostile towards Him. 00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:50.279 The battle, the resistance, association with Christ, it's outweighed by the glory. 00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:56.759 And I am gutted because Thomas is getting to preach on that next week. 00:30:56.759 --> 00:30:59.639 That's the next section, the future glory. 00:30:59.639 --> 00:31:00.639 That's his part. 00:31:00.639 --> 00:31:03.519 So you'll need to come back. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:04.519 Let's pray. 00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:10.079 I'm going to pray, intercede various things, and we're going to finish which should have 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:11.079 been done earlier. 00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:13.720 Sorry, my mind's been all over the place today. 00:31:13.720 --> 00:31:15.919 Mind set in the wrong place. 00:31:15.919 --> 00:31:16.919 With the Lord's Prayer. 00:31:16.919 --> 00:31:18.319 So the Lord's Prayer will come up on the screens. 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:23.119 Just say it as we introduce it at the end of the prayer. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:24.799 It's significant, isn't it? 00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:27.399 It's our Lord, our Father that it begins with. 00:31:27.399 --> 00:31:31.240 I think that's significant as we close our worship. 00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:32.639 But let's pray together. 00:31:32.639 --> 00:31:36.759 Father, God, we ask and pray that we would remain in You. 00:31:36.759 --> 00:31:40.799 You would help us to be courageous and to be counter cultural. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:44.720 We pray that You would help people to take the step of putting their faith in Jesus Christ 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:51.480 today if they have never done so before because it is amazing to be adopted into your family. 00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:55.920 And it gives us a perspective that isn't unrealistic. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:59.720 It doesn't pretend that there isn't suffering and trouble and difficulty and doubts and 00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:01.839 fears. 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:08.319 But it grounds us completely differently and it reminds us that we need to keep on remembering 00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:11.639 and living this mindset so that we are transformed. 00:32:11.639 --> 00:32:13.519 We pray for grace in our lives. 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.119 We pray for grace into the city. 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:17.959 We pray for the lost and the lonely. 00:32:17.959 --> 00:32:24.480 We pray for those who are burdened by the inequality and by the homelessness that they 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:30.679 face and the brutality and the misery that is so often the life of people in this city. 00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:35.519 We pray for those who have been abused by their fathers, who have been abandoned by 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:43.560 their fathers, who have been ignored and rejected by their fathers and all the pain and all 00:32:43.560 --> 00:32:46.600 the suffering that comes from that. 00:32:46.600 --> 00:32:53.360 May we never have a self-righteous bone in our bodies that would question the lives of 00:32:53.360 --> 00:32:59.640 people when we consider what they have faced and what they have gone through and remind 00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:03.400 us of the grace of God who has kept us from that. 00:33:03.400 --> 00:33:09.960 Help us to be thankful for all that we have and for all that we enjoy. 00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:11.600 Gracious God, we pray for our city. 00:33:11.600 --> 00:33:18.000 We pray for our teachers and for our nurses and for our doctors, for those in public service, 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:23.520 for those who are struggling with the stresses of a lack of resource and funding and all these 00:33:23.520 --> 00:33:25.000 areas that are so important. 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.280 We pray for our business leaders, for our employees, for our students. 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:31.720 We pray for our mothers and fathers. 00:33:31.720 --> 00:33:36.319 We pray for the people we rub shoulders with every day and we ask and pray that we might 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:42.559 share with them the love of Jesus and the ordinariness of our lives but yet in the supernatural 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:44.839 grace that we have been given. 00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:49.480 So Lord, help us to depend on You and help us to love You better because You empower us 00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:50.480 to do so. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:54.399 It is a great gift and a great privilege and a great freedom. 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:59.320 And Lord, we ask as we come together to pray the prayer, the model prayer that You gave 00:33:59.320 --> 00:34:04.080 us that it would be something that is real to us and something that is important for 00:34:04.080 --> 00:34:05.560 us. 00:34:05.560 --> 00:34:10.800 So let us conclude our time of prayer by praying this great prayer that You give us, the Lord's 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:11.800 Prayer. 00:34:11.800 --> 00:34:16.119 Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. 00:34:16.119 --> 00:34:17.880 Your kingdom come. 00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:21.000 Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:23.440 Give us today our daily bread. 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:27.280 Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:32.720 Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for Yours is the kingdom and the 00:34:32.720 --> 00:34:36.240 power and the glory forever. 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:54.719 Amen.