Romans chapter 8, 12-17, reading out of the ESV. 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 with him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you truly are a God worthy of all our praise. We thank you for your graciousness. We thank you for your patience.

We thank you for the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit. Help us, Lord God, as we search your word that you would teach, remind, encourage, rebuke, challenge, and lead us. For we are weak in understanding. We pray your Holy Spirit would guide. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

As you guys know, I've been giving you updates on what's been happening to the building, our new building. We're kind of at the tail end. We have maybe a month or two months more. We have a lot of little things to go. In the last maybe about two to three weeks, one, in order to speed up the process and maybe even save a little bit of money, we've actually hired some handymen, so people that I've gotten to know through using them here.

I contacted one of the guys that we use to do some construction on that end. I asked him if he can bring some of his friends to do some work because we had some things to do. We had some digging. We had some throwing away trash and cleanup, a lot of just physical labor.

A couple weeks ago, the guy that I contacted brought some of his friends. When he brought some of his friends, I was just kind of taking it back initially because the youngest of the three guys that he brought was my age. Then the next guy was in his mid-50s.

The next older guy was 75. He showed up and saying, "We're ready to work." I'm like, "Okay." It's already too late now. They started working. Again, every once in a while, you meet people who just kind of live in a completely different world even though we're living in Orange County together, but they live in a completely different world.

They work their tail off. They work eight hours just digging, like literally digging. If you've ever dug dirt before, that's probably one of the hardest things to do physically. It's just eight hours of dirt digging. I felt bad. I was there watching them. I kind of had to help out a little bit.

Last two weeks, we've been kind of around the building and helping out this and that. At the end of the night, a couple weeks ago, the guy told me because most of the guys don't speak English well. The guy that I contacted, he was telling me at the end of the night, and he said ...

He was introducing each one of them to me. He said, "Well, this guy is 75 years old." I was like, "Wow, 75. This guy works so hard. I can't believe he's able to have that kind of stamina." Then he said, "Well, here's this other guy. He's 55 years old, and he has cancer." I thought he was kidding.

He has no hair. He was completely bald. He said the reason why he doesn't have hair is because he's in the middle of chemo. I said, "What?" Not only are they old, this guy has cancer. He literally dug eight hours straight nonstop. They've been working at the building for the last two weeks, just kind of picking up things and doing some ...

Again, this is heavy stuff, the heavy stuff that they're doing. Especially these two guys, they're all hard workers, but especially two guys, every time I come in, I always kind of feel bad, because they're not ... We're giving them more money than they asked for, but it's not anywhere near what they deserve.

I've been trying to talk to them and get to know them to find out what's going on, but this guy, he had chemo this Monday, and so he wanted to come to work, but he had to rest because he was knocked down by chemo, but as soon as he felt better, he came back to work on Thursday, asking for more work.

Then I said, "Man, you need to take a break. He just had chemo on Monday, and then I was at the building yesterday, and he was at the building yesterday, because a guy that we hired to do some drywalling hired him to come and help him." He was there all day Saturday, and he was asking me as I was leaving, "Hey, Peter, can I come on Monday?" He's going to be there on Monday.

If you want to come check him out, you come to church on Monday. I'm not exaggerating, but being around these guys just kind of put things in perspective, because last month or two has been pretty crazy. A lot of things ... You're not going to understand, but a lot of things, because we're at the tail end.

There's a lot of things that need to get done. The inspector's coming the next day, so we're in a hurry, and there's a lot of grumbling in my heart, because the architect and the structural engineer didn't do the drawings correctly, and we're wasting a lot of time and money.

Then I meet these guys, and I felt bad, so one day while they were working, I went there and said, "Man, this is a lot of work, huh?" One of the guys looked at me, and he said, "Easy money." I said, "Easy money?" That's what he said. It's like, "Wow, easy money after all of that?" Again, I share this story because every single one of us are tremendously blessed, even just physically.

You have good jobs. You have a place to live. How many of you would spend eight hours digging dirt for a hundred bucks? But to them, and at the end of the day, I'll say, "Man, is this even worth it?" But at the end of the day, every single day, they're begging me, "Can I come back tomorrow?

Can I come back tomorrow?" But it kind of puts things in perspective for me that everything that I grumble about in my heart, a lot of times, is just so trivial. To me, these are men. These are people who lived life and just value what needs to be valued.

But so much of things that we complain about and we grumble about are so trivial in light of just everything else. I share this story because as Christians, not only are we physically blessed, but as Christians, Paul's been reminding us that we have the Holy Spirit. The distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian is we have the Spirit of God who indwelt us, who's living in us.

And sometimes we forget just the privilege that we have and what a blessing that we have, that we've been targeted by the God of this universe to be loved in this specific way that he sent his only begotten Son to save us. This morning, and we're looking at this text, Paul reminds us of four things in this text that I want to share with you as we're looking at this text, that the Holy Spirit, what the Holy Spirit means for us as Christians.

So let's jump right in. First thing he says in verse 14, he says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." So the first thing that he is to us is the Holy Spirit is the identifying mark of a Christian. The Holy Spirit is the identifying mark of a Christian.

He doesn't say that some Christians have the Holy Spirit and some Christians don't. There are certain degrees given to certain people and certain people not. The distinguishing mark between a Christian and a non-Christian is the Holy Spirit. Either you have him or you don't have him. There is no Christian identified in the scripture that does not have the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is not making a dwelling in you, then you would not be a Christian. So he says in verse 14, "If you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are a Christian. You are a child of God." We see the same thing emphasized by Paul in Galatians 5.16.

He says, "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 that you want to do." He says the mark of a Christian is the Holy Spirit restrains you from your flesh.

The Holy Spirit leads you away from the things that are harmful. He said they are diametrically opposed to each other. So an individual cannot, either you are being led by the Spirit or you are being led by the flesh. But you can't have both. You know, we often hear how the church is hypocritical and how there's backbiting and slander and let's be honest, all of that to a certain degree is true.

Because we have sin dwelling in us. There's divisions in the church. We have opinions that we don't agree with one another. And sometimes it can get nasty. And I've seen it. You know, I've been in, I've grown up in the church. I've seen police officers show up at the church.

I've seen elders fighting. So I've seen some ugly things in the church. And as bad as we may say some certain things that we have seen in the church, the difference between the community and the church and outside the church is that a church filled with genuine believers, no matter how bad it may get, is restrained sin.

It's restrained sin. If you've ever worked in a workforce, which I know a lot of you do, and you've ever been in a situation where somebody is out to slander you, you've offended them in some way, and now they're going to ruin you. And it's unrestrained because there's nothing holding them back.

There's nothing inside of them saying like, "Oh, I feel bad. I shouldn't do this." No, they're going to do this until you grovel. Look at, look at our presidential campaign. Look at the non-Christians and how they fight and how they distort the truth and say something that somebody said and twisted it all for the purpose of, for their own gain.

Now, I know those of you who are new to the political arena may have been shocked by the verbiage and how they're willing to go after their children, their wives, their heritage. I mean, their hairstyle, their womanhood, man. I mean, they'll go after everything, whatever it takes for them to get what they want.

See, that's the identifying mark of a non-Christian. A non-Christian is not restrained by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit restrains Christians. But what does it mean to be led by the Spirit other than just being restrained in the flesh? Because a lot of times we use the word "led" as in this supernatural, you know, where it's like, "Oh, you know, God spoke to me last night and He's leading me to do this.

God led me to go to Irvine. Oh, God led me to this, to this job." And we use the term kind of very, you know, mystically. And it sounds good, but in actual practice, like, what does that mean? In fact, in Christian dating, maybe some of you have been a target of this mystical, you know, "God led me to you." You know, "God's leading me not to you." You know?

And we make certain things like make it mystical and godly, but in reality, you just don't like that person. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? Well, he explains in verse 18 in Galatians chapter 5, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." And then he describes an individual who's being led by the flesh.

Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissension, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

He's not saying that an individual who's being led by the Spirit, led by the flesh, that all of these things are going to be true to everyone. Somebody who's being led by the flesh may not have all of these qualities, but an individual who's led by the flesh is an individual who has given in to these impulses.

And your whole life and trajectory is being led by these things. Even in the church, you can come to church and be completely led by the flesh. And that's why sometimes the church can be ruined if you have leaders who are being led by the flesh. Let me give you an example.

You know, there are situations where you're perfectly content with your life and the things that God has given you until you go to someone else's house, and all of a sudden it's not enough. The income that you're making was good enough until you start talking about what other people are making, and all of a sudden it's not enough.

And then here's this rivalry and envy and competition that comes into your heart, and then you give in to that. And so once you give in, now the trajectory of your life is to have what they have. So now your flesh is leading you and not the Spirit. You can have contention in the church and somebody said something that offended you, and your heart is angered, and there's bitterness, and you give in to that.

And then now the things are coming out of your mouth. You're deliberately slandering people, deliberately being divisive. And so now you're being led by the flesh. See, that's a description that is given to us by Galatians chapter 5. An individual who's being led by the flesh is somebody who will wear the flesh that is against the Spirit, and you've given in to it.

Now you're making decisions and deliberately doing things to satisfy your flesh. But in contrast, in verse 22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love." Now I'm going to stop right there with the word "love," because love really encompasses every other character that he's about to mention. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against these things there is no law. But the word "love" really encompasses all of it. An individual who's being led by love, led by the Spirit and not by the flesh, you will experience the same kind of slander, same kind of divisions, same kind of sinfulness that may come against you.

But instead of giving in to your flesh, you choose to love, because the Holy Spirit is leading you. The Holy Spirit is compelling you to live in love. So an individual who is driving, whose trajectory of life is being driven by the Spirit of God, is going to be pursuing, actively pursuing, love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, and so on.

So this being led by the Spirit, at least the way that the Bible describes it, isn't just wait there until the Holy Spirit speaks to you so that you can go. Where is the Holy Spirit leading you? What job should you get? Is the Holy Spirit leading you as to what wife or husband that you must get?

That's not what we see in Scripture. Being led by your flesh is basically giving in to your fleshly impulses, whether it may be lust, or envy, competition, your pride, your ego, your anger, your bitterness, you've given in to that, and now you're pursuing this. And you're justifying it. And you're a man or woman being led by the flesh.

But one who is led by the Spirit, the Word of God, is constantly convicting you against the things that you desire. Against the things that are contrary to the things that you desire of your flesh. But the Spirit of God is leading you in another direction. But when He says you are being led by the Spirit, there's another thing that we need to remember.

The Bible describes Christians being led by the Spirit because we haven't arrived yet. Just in case somebody is sitting here thinking, "Well, you know, I still struggle. My flesh is so strong." But the reason why we're being led is because we're not there. If you are there, there's no need to be led.

To be led means the Holy Spirit is taking you somewhere. And there's a reason. I know that 1 Corinthians 13.10 is often used to talk about by the cessationists, or people who don't believe in the spiritual gifts, that the Word of God came and so the miracle of gifts is not necessary.

But in 1 Corinthians 13.10, when it says, "When the perfect comes, the imperfect shall pass away." The word perfect, teleos, basically means to take something that was intended for a certain purpose and take it to completion. To bring it to final completion. What God intended in salvation, that He would take it to completion.

So sometimes people translate that as Jesus Himself, His work. Or oftentimes it's translated as our salvation and sanctification itself. But the word basically means to take something to its completion. And that's what the Holy Spirit is doing. That's the mark of a Christian and a non-Christian. A Christian is somebody who is being led by the Holy Spirit, not by the flesh, to bring them to completion.

What God intended in salvation. Not simply so, "Oh, you're not going to hell and work done." No, "He who began a good work in you, to complete it until the day of Christ." That's how the Bible describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the identifying, clear identifying mark of a Christian and a non-Christian.

The second thing that the Holy Spirit does, the Holy Spirit delivers us. The Holy Spirit, number one, the Holy Spirit identifies us. Number two, the Holy Spirit delivers us from enslavement, from fear, to freedom as sons of God. In 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." You notice how He contrasts enslavement and fear?

And what's the deliverance for? Adoption. He doesn't just say, "We've been delivered from enslavement of sin and fear." He doesn't just stop there. He said, "We've been delivered from that, and instead of fear, we have what?" The contrasting statement that He makes is that we are adopted children of God, by which we cry out, "Abba, Father." Hebrews chapter 2, 14, it says, "Since therefore the children share in the flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook in the same things." Talking about Jesus.

"That through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." So when He says He's delivered us from fear of death, like how many of you don't fear death?

I don't fear death. Of course, we don't fear what happens after death, but I think all of us fear death itself, that moment where God calls us to cross over. So when He's talking about fear of death, He's not talking about the actual event of dying. He's talking about the consequence of what happens after you die.

He's talking about the judgment, and that's what He clearly says in Hebrews. The fear of judgment. We've been delivered from the fear of judgment, but He doesn't leave us there. And that's, again, and I think that's the problem that we have in our generation, is that the Gospel has been preached to deliver us from the penalty of sin, not recognizing the whole purpose of deliverance was to make us a child of God.

In 1 Corinthians 15, 54, 56, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? Death where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law." That we are no longer under the law. Law no longer judges us or condemns us, but we are adopted children of God.

You know, obviously today we identify Christian and non-Christian. The term Christian, right, has become such a generic term. I would say, at least in the last presidential election, I actively followed presidential elections starting from Reagan. Not that, you know, I was born before then, but where I was old enough where I actually knew what was going on was from Reagan.

And every president, every president and every president nominee has always claimed to be Christian. Always. Not only the ones who are elected, but the ones competing, not only Republicans, but Democrats alike. I can't think, I mean, you can correct me if I'm, you know, I'm sure you can think of one or two people, but I can't think of a single person who ran for presidency who didn't say that they were a Christian.

And I can honestly tell you that I can only identify maybe about four people that I can say they were actual Christians out of maybe 20, 30 people that I can remember. Because in a nominal Christian nation, in a post-Christian culture, if you don't identify as a Christian, you can't get elected.

So you may be pagan in every other way, but in public office, you have to be a Christian, at least be marked as a Christian. So in our generation, the term Christian has become so generic. When somebody says they're Christian, we don't know what that means. In fact, this very week I had a conversation, because I'm at the new building a lot, and there's a couple of workers who were doing the fire alarm for us, and very lively guys, you know, using foul language all the time.

And I try to get to know them a little bit better. And so one day they were out there a little bit later, and we were the only ones there. So I tried to share the gospel with them. And I told them, "Hey, this is a church, and I'm the pastor." And so the conversation started.

And I said, "Are you a Christian?" And they said, "Yes, we're Christian." So that was like a 15-second pause. I was like, "What should I say? I don't think so." But it was interesting. And they were saying, "Yeah, my mom's a Christian, and somebody's a Christian." And so they identify as Christians.

So I said, "What makes you a Christian?" They said, "Oh, my mom's a Christian." So I said, "Are you a Christian because you're a Christian, or are you a Christian because you were born a Christian?" They said, "Oh, I was born a Christian. Isn't that how you're a Christian?" So I was able to have this conversation.

And what was interesting to me is in the context of this conversation, one of the guys asked, because they've been working putting fire alarms in every single room. And one of the rooms that they were working on for, I don't know, it wasn't me, but somebody told them that it was the cry room.

You know, some of you guys who went to that building, you saw we have a large cry room back there. And so the whole time he was working, he couldn't figure out what that was. So he asked me, "What is that?" I'm like, "People come to cry? What is that?" Right?

So he was asking me that question. And so before I could even answer, the other guy standing next to him was trying to answer him. I said, "Yeah." People come, and that's where they cry. So the whole time they're having this conversation, I'm just sitting there listening to this.

Like, "People come to cry here?" I said, "Yeah. They come. They just come, and they go to that room. If they want to cry, they go to that room." And the guy said, "Yeah. Yeah." So I'm just listening to this. "When can I correct these guys? I just wanted to see how far they went." You know?

So eventually I came in and said, "Oh, it's for parents with small children. So when they cry, they can take them into that room." So I thought when I told them that, they would say, "Oh, that's what they meant." But even like, "So when babies cry, they go into that room?" It's like, "Yes.

That's where they go." You know? So obviously, you know, these guys have never been to church, but they identify as Christians. And I'm sure you know, too. You have coworkers or classmates. You know, the term Christian has been thrown around. We don't really know what that means. You know?

So they go, "Oh, you're an evangelical Christian." But now, even the term evangelical has been watered down, and you don't know what that means either. The term Christian that was given to us was a derogatory term. It was people who hated Christians, who were persecuting Christians in the early church era, saying, "Oh, those are little Christs." People were following.

So that's where the term Christian came from. It wasn't a term that Christians embraced. The earliest term that was given to us that we may have embraced is the word "the way." And that was first used in the Church of Antioch, the first Gentile church. They were called "the way." And we can understand why.

And we say, "Jesus is the way and the truth and the life." But when you read the Scripture, and predominantly how God addresses us is His children. The way that the Bible describes us is children of God, sons of God, daughters of God. You know, and I was thinking as I was meditating on this, how much if we started to think of ourselves and addressing ourselves as children of God, sons of God.

I'm a son of God. How much of that would affect, maybe, the way that we view ourselves and our salvation? And I think part of the reason, I'm not saying all the reason, but part of the reason why there is this ambiguity after salvation of what to do with our Christian lives is because of that.

Where we talked about deliverance from sin, and then not understand what that deliverance was for. Was that whole purpose of salvation was not simply to get us away from the penalty of sin, it's so that we may become children of God. Because that's what was lost at the fall.

Salvation from the author of life. So the scripture tells us that the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to confirm, is to confirm and to deliver us and make us His children. The scripture says in this passage that we have become adopted children of God. Even the term adoption, we have to make sure that we understand it the way they understood it.

In our generation, when we talk about adoption, we're talking about maybe mercy. You know, you go to some of the poor countries or something happens and this child needs a home, so you decide to show compassion. So adoption has become an act of ministry in our generation. So we think, when we hear the term adoption, we think, "Oh, God had mercy on us." Which is all true.

But in the Greco-Roman world, adoption predominantly wasn't for the purpose of mercy. Adoption oftentimes happened because their wife couldn't have a boy for whatever, they couldn't have children at all or they couldn't have a boy. And so they would go and adopt a child for the purpose of carrying on the name of that person.

Because in that world, if you didn't have a son, your name and your generation would end with you. So in order to prevent that tragedy, they would go and adopt a son and give him that son's, your name, in order that your name would continue. You know, what was interesting was, a few months ago, I was at the church at Living Way and I was speaking at the retreat.

This is Pastor Ray Cosley. Some of you guys would know him. He's an African-American pastor. He's a very popular speaker at our church, so we've had him come and speak many times. He's married to a Caucasian lady and he himself told us that all his children are very light skinned.

So when I was at his church speaking, you couldn't readily identify his children because they're, again, they're very light skinned. He's married to a Caucasian lady. But there's another pastor at the church. His name is James Im and he's 100% Korean-American. His wife is 100% Korean-American and they've adopted two African-American children.

So if you go to that church, you would naturally automatically think, "Oh, Pastor Ray, are these your kids?" He's like, "No, those are not my kids. They're his kids." And what was interesting was we were having dinner one day and he was telling me that in his family that they don't have any boys.

His brother, his sister, none of them. None of them have boys. They all have girls. So in fact, he had two girls naturally. But the only two boys in that whole family are the two African-American boys that they adopted. So their name is David Im. I forgot the other kid's name, right?

So his last name is Im. So he was jokingly telling me, "One of these days when they grow up, they're going to have to explain how they got the name Im. Because at some point, all the Im's in that family may be African-American because of his children." And he was telling me, "Yeah, these are the only boys in our family.

They're going to carry on the Im name." In the Greco-Roman world, when they talked about adoption, that's how they viewed adoption. It was for the purpose of carrying on the inheritance, the name and the inheritance of the father. So it makes sense when the scripture talks about adoption and inheritance always go hand in hand.

So the reason why this is significant, not that if you adopt for the purpose of mercy that it's any less, but because in the Greco-Roman world that that child was adopted for that purpose, do you think that that child was one of many children in the home? He was not.

He was the child. He was the one because through that child, the name was going to be passed down. So how precious was that child? Everything that the father owns, his honor, his name, was to be carried down through that adopted child. And that's how the Greco-Roman world understood adoption.

So it is not simply, well you have the regular children and then you have the adopted children which is kind of, you know, trying to get the two things mixed. But an adoption at that particular time automatically was understood as someone who was very, very precious to the father.

That's the imagery that is used here to describe what you and I have become. That we're no longer aliens and strangers who are far off. The Holy Spirit not only delivered us from the bondage of sin leading to fear, He made us His children. And the Holy Spirit confirms that through that, that we are able to call Him our Abba Father.

That's why the Bible tells us, "Be holy because your Heavenly Father is holy." The motivation behind our sanctification is not simply because it's right. It's not because we owe Him. First and foremost, it's because our Father is holy. Just like an adopted child is to take on the name and the honor and the inheritance of the father, we are called to take on that brand.

God is seeking His own glory in the life and the thoughts and the heart and the worship of His adopted children. I was very aware of this when I was younger that I was a pastor's son. And even when I wasn't a Christian, I couldn't leave the church, even though I wanted to leave the church, because I knew that if I left the church when I was younger, how that would reflect on my death.

Even as a non-Christian, I remember thinking that. So I remember even before, even as a young as 14, thinking, "When I'm 18, I'm leaving the church." Like, I never shared this with anybody, you know, especially with my parents, because if I knew if I left the church at 17, there was going to be an uproar, "How can a pastor's son leave the church?" But I was very aware of who I was and how that reflected on my father.

See, the scripture primarily teaches us that to pursue sanctification because our heavenly father is holy. It's when we don't have, that's why this relationship with our father is so important, because all that we have and all that we pursue is motivated by a personal relationship with him. So if you don't have a personal affection for him, you don't have the motivation for sanctification.

He identifies us, right? He causes us to be delivered. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit compels us to pray and to seek the Father. Verse 15, let me read it again. 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." See, a Jew, when he heard the Lord's Prayer, typically if you've ever heard an exposition of the Lord's Prayer, we would stop by saying, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And usually where we stop for exposition is, "Hallowed be thy name." Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. What does hallowed be thy name mean, especially if you memorized it in King James, right?

I memorized it in King James, "Hallowed be thy name." And I learned through study that it means to magnify, to honor, to glorify, right? And so usually we would begin the exposition of the Lord's Prayer by, "Hallowed be thy name." A Jew, at that particular time, would have heard if when Jesus says, "Our Father which art in heaven," they wouldn't have stopped with, "Hallowed be thy name." They would have stopped at, "Our Father." Because they were afraid to even say His name.

They would call Him Adonai, Lord, because they were afraid to use His name in vain, to have this intimate relationship with the Heavenly Father. They would have said, "Father, stop. You want me to address Him as Father?" Now, it wasn't because that they never did it. You know, there are places where Israel is referred to as son and children, but it just was not common.

That's just typically not something you do. It was kind of like, you know, your son coming in and saying, "Hey, Peter, what did you say?" Right? Just say, "Hey, tell Peter this, tell Peter that." That's how a Jew may have understood. Not only was it disrespectful, it seemed inappropriate, but Jesus is giving them authority that you're not just subjects of God.

Remember Jesus said that? Right? You're not just slaves, you're not just servants. I call you my friends. And He says we're co-heirs. So Jesus is authorizing His disciples in addressing God, first and foremost, as Father. See the Scripture says the Holy Spirit compels us to seek the Father and cry out, "Abba, Father." In almost every instance that we see Jesus addressed, seeing His Father, it's almost always Father.

Right? Or Abba, Father at the Garden of Gethsemane. Only one time we see in Jesus' life where He calls Him God. And you guys remember where that was? Where He's hanging on the cross and He says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In that moment of separation because He was taken on the sin of the world.

But in every other instance. But not only does He call Him Abba, Father. He says, "Now you have become my brothers and you are authorized to call Him Abba, Father." The word for cry out. John Stott says the word "krazo." You know, even in the English it is a very strong word.

To cry out. It's not just to simply speak. It's not simply to say, but to cry out. But this is what John Stott says about this word. It expresses a loud, spontaneous, emotional shout. To cry out. To scream or to shriek. And that same word, cry out, shriek, was referred to when the demons saw Jesus and in terror they shrieked.

And that's the word that is used here to cry out. The meaning behind this is that the Holy Spirit that in our utter desperation comes and compels us to go to the Father. It is the Holy Spirit that reminds us of the intimacy that we have with Him. That you are not just going to a throne, some king.

That you're going to your Father's place. In Romans 8.26, "And 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." Have you ever been in a situation where your prayers were just groans?

That you were in such despair and felt like there's no help. That all you could say before God, you couldn't articulate the words. And there was a groaning in your heart. And that's how it's described when your pain is so deep. When your despair is beyond comprehension and you're groaning.

He says, "Know that the Holy Spirit has been given to you that He may also groan with words that you cannot express." He's interceding for us. When someone is in so much pain, you know, usually we have words that encourage people. All things work together for good. You know, rejoice, have right perspective.

We say all of these things, you know, meaning well. But there are situations, there are things that people go through where words actually end up hurting. You know, you're going through anguish and you're really suffering and somebody just comes along and says, "Hey, rejoice always. God works everything for good." Right words, wrong time.

See, he's talking about as Christians living in a fallen world. And I think everybody experiences this at different levels. Because we live in a fallen world. There's sin around us. There's sin in us. And so we have relational issues. We have relational issues at work. We have a hard time understanding each other.

Even with our wives and even with our children. In the midst of anguish, he says, "The Holy Spirit has been given to us and it compels us to cry out to our Abba Father that he may listen and answer our prayers." It's the Holy Spirit that leads and guides us to him.

Fourth, he says, "The Holy Spirit guarantees." He guarantees our inheritance. In Ephesians 1, 13-14, "In him you also, when you heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory." To the praise of his glory.

He said, "The Holy Spirit was given to us guaranteeing our salvation." I know that those of you who have been a Christian for a while, there are certain sins and certain struggles that you've had for a long time. And there are certain things that you may have even questioned yourself.

What is going to cause us to persevere? What causes us to make it from point A to point B after all these years? It is not your willpower. It is not your intelligence. It is not your background. These are all things that the Pharisees were confident about. So when Jesus said, "When the Son comes to set you free, you will be free indeed," they got offended.

I don't need freedom. It is not your heritage. It is not your wisdom. It is not your education. It is not your willpower. The Bible says what you could not do, God did by sending his Holy Spirit. And what is the primary work of the Holy Spirit? Guaranteeing the inheritance.

Guaranteeing the inheritance. If one of my children, not my older children obviously, but if one of my children, I guess I only have one, okay? So it's Isaiah. He's young enough to use him as an illustration. One day walked off, couldn't find him for days, and then we find out that he's wandering out in Santa Ana.

We get a phone call and I run over there to get him. Obviously we're frantically looking for him. We find him and then I go there and then I say, "Look Isaiah, this is how you get home, okay? Now get out a pen, take the number 15 bus, right?

Get on it and make a ride on Grand Street and then go there for about three hours and then get off that bus and you don't have any money so you're going to have to get a job. So $3. Somehow get $3, get on that bus and then go on there.

It's going to take you about six hours to get there but good luck. I'll see you when you get home." Now what parent would do that? Logically, you know what I would do. You know what any parent would do. When I find him, I'm going to grab him and I'm going to stick him in the car and I'm going to put the seatbelt on him so tight that he may not be able to breathe, lock all the child safety, you know, and all the doors, make sure all the windows are locked up and then drive and go home, put him in the bed, tuck him in and then lock the front door and make sure that he never escapes again.

Make sure, I will sit at that door, make sure that he can't ever open and put the lock way up here so he can never reach it, right? Why? To make sure that we don't lose him again. See the scripture, when the Bible tells us that it leads us, he leads us to sanctification, he empowers us for ministry to preach the gospel, he convicts the world of sin but the primary work that the Holy Spirit has given us is to help us to go home.

Is to help us to go home because you and I lost our way. He didn't just give us instructions and say, "Hey, follow these instructions and hopefully you can make it home." He didn't do that. When the disciples were concerned, "If you leave us, what's going to happen to us?" Remember what Jesus said, "I will not leave you as an orphan, the helper, he's going to come and he's going to teach you everything that I have taught you." So you need to remain, stay with him.

You need to rest in him and you need to rely on him because the Holy Spirit is going to come as a deposit, guaranteeing, "I'm going to put you in the car, I'm going to strap you in, I'm going to take you home and I'm going to make sure that you're going to make it home." That's why the Holy Spirit came.

That's what we have in the Holy Spirit. This primary work, 2 Corinthians 1:21, "And it is God who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put a seal on us, giving us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." Guarantee. And you know what this inheritance is that he's bringing us to?

Douglas Moo says the inheritance that he's talking about is not a mansion, is not a great house, is not whatever that you are fantasizing about when you get to heaven. All of these things may be true because he is our Father. He is our inheritance. He is the one that he sent this Holy Spirit to bring us to, to bring him back.

If I picked up Isaiah and brought him to Irvine and then dropped him off at that house and said, "You know what? Good luck." But we moved. That's where you live, that's your house. But that's not his home. His home is wherever we are. His home, he's safe there because that's where his parents are.

Heaven would be worthless if that's not where our Father was. See he's not bringing us to heaven. He's bringing us to his home to be by his side so that he can protect us, so that he can love us. Psalm 73, 25, "Who have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Every Christian has been given the Holy Spirit to deliver us from bondage into sonship. It compels us to cry out to the Abba Father with groanings.

He reminds us of the inheritance that we have in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the one who preserves us, joining with Christ, that we may make it home to our Father. You know sometimes we just need perspective. I'm not telling you anything that you don't already have. Everything that Paul says is telling Christians that this is what you have.

And just like these men, you know, I have just being around these guys just makes me remember the blessing that I have. Sometimes we just need to remember, you and I have this and this is why we worship. Let's pray. Again, I want to invite you to take some time to pray and to come before the Lord in honest prayer.

Sometimes we make prayer so complicated that it needs to be biblical. We need to say the right words. The best prayer is always the honest prayer. I believe, help my unbelief. Pray where you are, what you're going through, what you're feeling and be honest before God. Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.

(upbeat music)