Romans 8:12

Chapter 8, Romans Chapter 8, the Epistle—you remember, the letter to the Romans. I believe it was at the twelve o’clock service that I was saying, for the benefit of those who are beginning in the faith, beginning in the ways of the Lord, that sometimes they do not know all the biblical language. When we speak of the letter to the Romans, we are speaking of a treatise, a theological work that one of the Apostles wrote to enlighten and instruct a congregation or group of Christians in a specific city.

In this case, the Apostle Paul wrote a treatise, a document addressed to Rome, to the Christians in Rome, a great, great city—practically a nation, obviously—the capital of the Roman Empire. There were already Christians there at that time, and Paul writes them a letter to instruct them in the things of faith and matters of Christian belief.

Romans is a letter well known for all its very profound, very theological, very foundational elements of the Christian life. So we begin reading in verse 12 of Romans Chapter 8. I love seeing some pens and pencils. If you have a pen in your hand, raise it now, please. Incredible. Wow! Impressive. I didn’t know that... listen, that’s great. And are you going to use them? ... Amen, okay. What a blessing. That means you are paying attention; hopefully others....

Incidentally, I was thinking about that this morning. Bring your Bible to church. If you are beginning in the ways of the Lord, get used to bringing your Bible—even if it is just for decoration, bring it. I remember those Christians when I was a child, about fifteen or twenty years ago or so, in the Dominican Republic, those.... all right, don’t give me a hard time. Those evangelicals who walked down the streets with their huge Bibles and who truly... stood out because they were so unusual. There were not that many of them, but they were not ashamed to say, ‘I am an evangelical.’ People called them Hallelujahs and this and that, but they carried their Bibles on their way to church. They bore witness in the streets. ‘Look, there goes one; he is an evangelical who believes in Jesus Christ.’

And we bear witness in that way, and it is also a way to get used to bringing one’s Bible and studying the Word, not being a passive listener but a listener who interacts with the concepts and teachings being received. That is very beautiful and very important, so I encourage you. Buy your children a Bible too; get them used to coming to church with their Bible. That will remain engraved in their minds when they are older.

Verse 12 says, ‘...so then, brothers, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh—what will happen?—...you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh—what will happen?—...you will live.’

There is a contrast here, isn’t there, between dying and living, flesh and Spirit. That is the contrast: the Spirit gives life; the flesh leads to death.

‘...because all,’ verse 14 says, ‘all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. For you have not received the spirit of slavery to be in fear again, but you have received the Spirit—of what?—...of adoption.’

Look, there is another contrast there between slavery and adoption.

‘...you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba,” which means “Daddy,” “Dad,” “Father.” The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God, and if we are children, then we are also—what?—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer together with him so that together with him we may also be glorified.’

So here a new line of thought begins, one that is related to what came before. It says:

‘...For I consider it certain,’ says the Apostle Paul, ‘I am sure that the sufferings of this present time are not comparable to the glory to come that is to be revealed in us, because the earnest longing of creation is to await the manifestation of the children of God. For creation was subjected to ... not by its own will, but because of him who subjected it in hope, because creation itself will also be delivered from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans together and is in labor pains together until now. And not only it, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit—we also groan within ourselves as we await the adoption, the redemption of our body.

For in hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because why should anyone hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it patiently. And in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what we ought to ask for or how we ought to ask. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because according to the will of God he intercedes for the saints.’

May the Lord bless his holy Word. What a beautiful passage. We cannot do it justice in thirty minutes, but at least we can isolate a few thoughts.

You will remember that last Sunday we were talking about how the Apostle Paul begins there in Romans Chapter 8 by saying, ‘There is therefore now no—what?—condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, those who walk,’ it says, ‘according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh.’

And we paused there and reflected on the idea that now we who are in Christ Jesus no longer have to live under condemnation, under guilt, under fear, under that feeling of wondering whether God is angry with me, whether I will be saved or not, fearful of death and the hereafter. The convinced Christian who has been dealt with by the Holy Spirit and introduced into the glories of the Christian life no longer lives under that shadow; he no longer has that dark cloud over his head. He has now entered a luminous dimension filled with hope.

Now the Apostle Paul says that two things are important: first, that one be in Christ Jesus, and second, that one walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. And we discussed that a little—what it means to live according to the Spirit, right?

We said that the person who walks in the Spirit, who lives in the Spirit, is the person who gives priority to eternal things, spiritual things. There are two ways to live: focused on the material, on the here and now, on the world and its rewards and pleasures and priorities; or focused on eternity, living for God, for sublime things, for eternal values, for perpetual holiness, for the values of the Kingdom of God, for the improvement of our higher self.

There are people whose goal is to bring their body to its highest state of perfection and effectiveness, and you see that as soon as they leave work, they immediately go to the gym and spend two hours there, and they watch what they eat so that their little belly does not stick out even half an inch, and everything has.... it is the flesh, right?

Others place their emphasis—and there is nothing wrong with taking care of oneself—others place their emphasis on the things of the Spirit, and what is their greatest pleasure? Well, studying the Word of the Lord, serving God, worshiping the Lord, having fellowship with their brothers and sisters, growing in the faith, ridding themselves of the imperfections of their personality and temperament, and every day, as the Word says, becoming more and more like Christ Jesus. That is their priority; that is what their life is focused on. And they do a number of other things: they work, they have their little bank account, they take care of their businesses, they go on vacation from time to time. There is nothing wrong with any of that, but what is foremost in their lives is the things of the Spirit, and their minds are set on eternity. And those are the people who truly benefit from being Christians, right?

So all of that is what it says in the passage preceding the one we read today. It says that ‘...if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’

You know, brothers and sisters, of all the benefits one can claim as a child of God, the greatest benefit the child of God has is eternal life, the salvation of our soul. Because here on earth God can give you many things; he can bless you with health, with blessings in your family, with money—all those very good things—but when you die, all of that is over.

But listen to me: for the person who has Christ, death is simply a transfer to a perfect life. There is no death for the child of God. The Christian passes from an imperfect life into a totally perfect life. So that is the idea: the person who is in Christ Jesus has a life-insurance policy that, listen, neither Metropolitan nor any other company, nor John Hancock nor any insurance company, can offer you—the insurance Christ gives you.

The greatest hope of all is knowing that when I am there on my deathbed, I can trust that there will be a troop of angels waiting to welcome me into eternity. That is why we do not have to be afraid of death.

To tell you the truth, the death of a child of God causes me pain because they leave on a journey and I will not see them for a long time, but I know that they are in a better place.

This week we went to the funeral of our dear brother William González, and we saw him there in his coffin with his family around him. And I tell you the truth, brothers and sisters: although I loved William so much throughout the many years we knew him—and this happens to me again and again—when I go to the funeral of a child of God, I sometimes go to look at the body in the coffin out of courtesy, not because I am interested in seeing it. Even when my father died many years ago, I actually made up my mind not to see his body, because that really is not the person anymore. The child of God has already departed to be with the Lord; what remains there is the container. What remains there is simply a shell, because his essence, his personality, his life, is already with the Lord.

That is the reality that comforts us. That is the greatest consolation. So that is the greatest treasure possessed by a child of God who is in Christ Jesus, who lives in the Spirit. That is why the Apostle Paul says in verse 12, ‘...so then, brothers....’

In other words, as a consequence of the great benefit we receive from having Christ as our Savior and living in the Spirit, we are no longer debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. Because if we live according to the flesh, we are going to die; rather, we are debtors to what? To the Spirit.

In other words, what the Apostle Paul is saying is that, as a consequence of that great benefit and those other benefits you obtain by being a child of God through Christ Jesus, you no longer owe anything to the flesh; your commitment is not to the flesh. Because what does the flesh give you? Death, it says, and that is true. We read there what the works of the flesh are: hostilities, quarrels, orgies, death, violence—the way the world lives. Look around; look at human history; look at human politics today; look at the state of the nations, and you will realize where the flesh leads.

So the Apostle Paul says to each one of us, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, if you live in the flesh, if you live under the dictates of the flesh, if you live attending to the things of the flesh, and if you live focused on the things of the flesh as though you owed the flesh something, as though the flesh were your creditor with the right to demand something from you, you are condemned to death.’

That is, death is everything negative. It is not death merely in the biological sense that your head was cut off and you ceased to live. No, the death of which the Bible speaks is a spiritual death; it is the death of everything beautiful, everything good, everything wholesome, everything noble, everything worthy of praise—all that the devil likes to kill, destroy, and make ugly. That is death. Because it kills all of that, everything beautiful in human beings.

So you owe it nothing. If the benefits you obtain as a child of God come from living in the Spirit and living in Jesus Christ, then there is a contradiction. There are many Christians who, despite having benefited so much from the Spirit, still live captive to the dictates of the flesh. Thus, we live a schizophrenic, divided life. For a while we go to church, worship the Lord, handle the concepts of the Bible, and are up there in glory; but then we leave church and go right back to splashing around in the mud of the flesh.

We live as though we did not know God. We return to the cares of life, to the vanity of the eyes—the vanity of the mind, it says. Many of us are like that, imprisoned and captive to what people will say, to friends, and to the culture.

There is a passage in Ephesians Chapter 2 that says that when we were without Christ, we lived as slaves of the world, prisoners of the spirit that rules the powers of the air. It says, ‘...captive to our pleasures and passions.’

That is how even so many Christians live. It is a contradiction. Paul says, ‘No, my brothers and sisters, you cannot live that way. You no longer owe anything to the flesh, nor does the flesh have any hold over your lives. It should not have one, because the only thing the flesh leads to is death.’

Verse 14 says, ‘...because all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.’

There is something there; that leads the Apostle Paul into a whole series of ideas that he develops later on.

What does it mean to be children of God? Well, many people say, well, we are all children of God. And it is true that, in a general sense, every human being, well, has life because God exists. But you know what? In the true sense of the expression, not all men, not all human beings, are children of God. Perhaps all human beings are creatures of God, just as fish, animals, and birds are, but not all are children of God.

The word of the Lord says, in John, I believe, in the book of John, it says that to those who received him, it says, “to those who believed in his name, the right was given to become children of God.”

Only those who have acknowledged Jesus as their Lord and Savior can be changed into the condition of children of God. Again, in that passage from Ephesians, chapter 2, it says that when we were in Christ, we were children of wrath. I looked up the word wrath in Spanish, and I looked it up in the original Greek, and it is the same word used for orgy. The idea refers to a strong passion, a strong feeling. The wrath of God is so great that it is like an orgy; it is orgiastic. In other words, when you are without Christ, you are under the wrath of God; you are a child of wrath.

The man or woman who does not have Christ in their heart is reserved, it says, for the day of wrath. Right now God restrains his wrath against humanity because his mercy moves him to be patient with this rebellious humanity, but one day he will unleash his wrath against this world, and all those who are not covered by the blood of Jesus will feel the wrath of God. They will feel it either here on earth or at the final judgment, but they will feel it.

The only thing that guarantees that you have peace with God is having Christ as your Savior and Lord. Give thanks to God because you know Jesus Christ. Give thanks to God because you have surrendered your soul and your life to the Lord Jesus. And if you have not done so, be afraid and make sure you do not leave this place without having made your peace with God, because the only one who can be called a child of God is someone who has Christ in their heart.

And what else does that mean? It means that we have been adopted. The Apostle Paul deals with that idea in verse 15. That is another very important concept we must understand in order to understand fully the concept of being children of God, of being made children of God.

Verse 15 here says, “For you have not received the spirit of slavery to be in fear again.”

Do you see what we say about there being no condemnation? That is the spirit of fear. There is no condemnation.

Then it says, “You have not received the spirit of slavery to be in fear again, but you have received the spirit of”—what?—“adoption, by which we cry out, Abba, ‘Daddy,’ ‘Papa.’”

What does that mean? Again, when you receive Jesus into your heart, a spirit enters your life, and it is not the spirit of fear. Many Christians live under that spirit of fear; they have not learned the freedom that is in Christ Jesus. We always live afraid that the devil is going to do this to me, the devil is going to do that to me, that people are bad, that something will happen to me on the street when I go out, and that God is upset with me, and we live in that spirit of something like paranoia. The good news of the Gospel of salvation has not penetrated us. And Paul says, “No, my brothers and sisters, what you have now received is a spirit of adoption.”

Look, there is a play on words there between slavery and adoption: being a slave and being an adopted child. There is a wealth of imagery there that reminds us—the Apostle Paul speaks of the slave and the son. A slave has no right to anything; a slave is simply property. And a son has all the rights of his family and of his parentage.

Now, throughout history there have been slaves who were adopted and became sons. I do not know how many of you have seen the novel, or the film, Ben-Hur, right? That was many years ago; it is still available on video. If you have not seen it, I suggest that you look for it. It is a beautiful, beautiful film. Ben-Hur, and I believe it must be available in Spanish as well.

And in it there is an interesting episode showing what it meant to be adopted under the Roman code. Remember that Paul is writing to Romans who understood all these legal concepts that prevailed in the Roman Empire. And the process of adoption in Rome was tremendously complex and very solemn.

For a man, for example, or a woman to be adopted into another family, they had to go through a very elaborate process. The first thing that must be understood is this: in the Roman Empire there was a concept called patria potestas, or paternal power, under which a father had absolute power over his children, absolute control even after they had reached adulthood.

And for a person to be adopted by another father, the patria potestas—that is, the paternal authority of the first father—first had to be broken so that the person could pass under the patria potestas of the second father. An entire legal process had to take place for that to happen.

Then, when this person went through the process of coming under his new father, he obtained all the rights belonging to his new father. He even became an heir to his property; like any other child, he had the legal right to inherit his share from his father. Even if that father later had other natural children, that adopted child had all the rights of any other child. His right to inherit could not be taken away.

Another thing was that when that child passed under the patria potestas of his adoptive father, his former life ceased to exist. If, for example, he had debts in his former life, all of that was completely canceled because he ceased to exist in the old life and now passed into a new life as the adopted child of that new father and that new family. And he also passed under the control, dominion, and lordship of his new father.

Notice—do you see the parallels with this idea that we are adopted children? We have received, it says, the spirit of adoption, not the spirit of slaves. In that film Ben-Hur, Ben-Hur goes from being practically a slave to being adopted as a son by this powerful Roman, a nobleman, a great Roman nobleman. Then Ben-Hur comes to have all the rights of a Roman citizen from the noble, upper class. His status as a Jewish slave, all of that, is left behind, and he becomes a Roman with all the rights and all the dignity of a Roman. A lovely story; watch it. The story is absolutely beautiful. It is a story from the time of Christ.

So when Paul speaks of our being adopted children and of our no longer being slaves, he is playing with these images, right? When we were without Christ, we were slaves to sin, it says; we were governed and enslaved by the demonic spirit that rules the cosmos, the universe. We were slaves; we were children of the devil, children of wrath, condemned to death. We had no relationship with God. We were enslaved to the passions of our flesh. There was no hope for us.

That is why, brothers and sisters, I cannot understand how a Christian, a Christian person, can say, “I cannot break with that habit; I cannot break with that addiction.”

If Paul says here that the spirit of slavery has been broken, then yes, perhaps we will have to struggle and fight against something in our minds or in our lives, but a Christian cannot say, “Oh, I am going to resign myself to this habit because I cannot do it; I am not capable of breaking it. I was born this way, and this is how I am going to die.”

That is a lie from the devil. The Christian is not a slave to anything, brother; believe it in the name of Jesus. Paul says, “I will not allow myself to be dominated by anything.” What is more, do not allow yourself to be dominated even by something good, I tell you, brothers and sisters, because sometimes there are things one does out of compulsion and not by choice. There are people, for example, who are generous to others, not because they have gone through a process of understanding why it is good to be generous to others, but because they need to serve, to have others approve of them and say that they are good, and they are under a psychological compulsion—and that is not good.

When you do something, do it with full awareness. Do it because you chose to after understanding why you do things. Do it intelligently. Do not be a slave to any impulse in your life. Make sure that in everything you try, as much as possible, to bring your flesh and your passions under control. We have to do that, brothers and sisters, because the flesh always sets a trap. Those areas of our lives that we have not surrendered to the Lord are areas of danger, and we are not going to be ruled by anything.

Our lives must always be a total emancipation from every form of slavery. Whatever area of your life binds you and leads you to do things you do not want to do, declare yourself against it and declare a revolution against it in the name of Jesus. “I am going to fight you until I defeat you,” say to any situation in your life. Because God has broken the spirit of slavery over you and has given you a spirit of freedom in Christ Jesus.

So we are adopted. Do you see? We went from being slaves of the flesh, slaves of the devil, slaves of the world, to now passing under the patria potestas of our heavenly God. Now he is the one who commands; he is the one who governs our lives. We passed from demonic rule to divine rule. Our old life ended, just as the life of an adopted child in Rome ended, and our new life in Christ Jesus begins.

Second Corinthians, I believe 7:14, says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The adopted child passes from a life of death and addiction to the flesh into freedom. All debts are also canceled.

The word of the Lord says that on the cross Christ defeated the principalities and powers and neutralized all the devil’s accusations against us. He nailed all our sins to the cross of Calvary. All debts were forgiven. And now we enter into our condition as free people.

And another thing is that we can inherit according to our heavenly Father. There are many passages that speak of the inheritance we have received as adopted children. As a son of God, as a daughter of God, you now have rights, you know? The right to inherit as Christ Jesus does.

Look at what it says right there in verse 16. It says, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then”—what?—“heirs of God and”—what?—“joint heirs with Christ.” Hallelujah!

There is something very, very beautiful there. Let us return to and continue with the image of Roman-style adoption. Did you know that the Roman adoption process was so complex, so serious, that it required seven witnesses to be present to testify that the adoption was legitimate and permanent? Why? Because if one day there were questions about that adopted child’s right to inherit, or about whether the adoption had been carried out properly, or whether it was a lie because the father had died and there was no one left—or there were no documents—to prove that this person had truly been adopted, there were witnesses who could go to court and say, “Yes, I was present when this person was adopted through valid legal procedures.”

Then look at what it says. It says that “the Spirit bears”—what?—“witness that we are children of God.”

Do you know who the witness is in that adoption process? The Holy Spirit who is in you. When the devil comes and says to you, “Oh, you are just an outsider; you were not truly converted; you were not saved,” and this and that, tell him, “That is a lie, in the name of Jesus. I was adopted by God when I received Christ as my Lord and Savior, and the Spirit of God bears witness that I am a daughter, a son of God.”

That is why it is important to have fellowship with that Holy Spirit, to remain tender. Do not let anything harden your heart and dull you in such a way that you have difficulty sensing the emanations that come from the Spirit of God. Remain tender so that you can hear when the Spirit says, “No, you are all right; God loves you. Perhaps you sinned, perhaps you offended him, but the Lord has already forgiven you because you repented. You are right with God.”

Never allow the devil to testify to you that no, you were not truly regenerated. The Holy Spirit who is within you as a result of being a child of God must always bear witness that you truly are a child of God.

Incidentally, we cannot pass over that lovely phrase which says that “the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’”

When I was in Israel this last time, I was able to hear children calling their fathers “Abba” in Hebrew. I did realize that they were saying that word. Abba—because at least I already knew that little word from biblical Hebrew—and Abba literally means “Daddy.”

In fact, can you not feel it? The word Abba is a sweet-sounding word, so it is a lovely word. Notice that this must have seemed very strange to the Jews, because the Jew had an idea of Jehovah as the sublime, sacred God, seven times holy, seated upon his throne of majesty, inaccessible and pure, who had to be approached through all kinds of sacrifices. To enter the Most Holy Place, one had to... only one man could enter there once a year, under terrible fear.

You know that when the high priests entered the Holy of Holies once a year—the innermost place in the Hebrew temple—they had to go in with little bells along the lower part of their garments, and those little bells... and they also tied a rope around one of their legs. I am going to tell you why. As long as the priests could hear the little bells, that meant everything was all right; the high priest was moving around inside the Holy of Holies. No one could enter there. Now, if the little bells stopped ringing, you knew that the man had some impurity and God had struck him down and killed him. That was the fear they had of entering that place where the Shekinah, the glory of God, was supposedly present. And then what happened? If they stopped ringing, they pulled him out; they pulled the body out because no one dared enter the Holy of Holies. That was the Hebrews’ conception of the God they worshiped.

Now look at what it says here: it says that we have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out and say, “Daddy,” “Papa.” For a Hebrew to call that God “Papa”—that is astounding. That was something completely... In fact, there are Christians who are offended when they hear other Christians call God “Papa.” They think that is irreverent, but the Apostle Paul says that our closeness to God is so great in Christ Jesus that we can call God “Papa”; we can draw near. The writer of Hebrews says that we should come confidently before the throne of grace by that precious and wide-open way God opened through Christ Jesus.

Do not approach God with dread or fear. Approach Him with reverence, yes, but approach Him with confidence, because Christ has already made you acceptable before God through His blood shed on the cross of Calvary.

So that is where I am going to stop. We are going to finish. I am going to ask the musicians to come up here quickly, but I want us to recognize, brothers and sisters, all these beautiful ideas involved here.

It says that if we are children, then we are also heirs and co-heirs with Christ. Now, there is something here. It says that this is so if indeed we suffer together with Him, so that together with Him we may be—what?—glorified.

Again, another pair of contrasting words there: suffering and being glorified. You know what? There are many people who think only about, oh, being glorified. They think only about the benefits of the Christian life, but you know what? There are costs involved as well; there are responsibilities. You have certain privileges, but you must also suffer together with Christ. You have to pay the price of being a Christian. The whole Christian life is not simply glory and joy and enjoyment. No, there are also trials we will go through. There are difficulties we will go through. There are hardships; we must submit ourselves. We must refrain from doing many things we want and would like to do; we must strive in the Lord. We must sow in the Lord. We must purify and sanctify ourselves. Many times, we must also weep. We must pay the price. I always say that to people who want to enter fully into the enjoyment of the Christian life. I tell them, “Brother, pay the price.” Especially when we come out of the world and have to free ourselves from a great many things, there is a price to pay. It is difficult; we must strive greatly.

It says that the kingdom of heaven advances forcefully, and the forceful seize it. We must also suffer for Christ Jesus. Do not think it is all simply glory, glory, glory. There are many preachers and many churches that present people only with the bright side of the Christian life, right?

God is going to give you a Cadillac. Do not worry; God is going to give you three cars in the carport. God is going to give you a house, and He is going to give you a husband with blue eyes and blond hair. And all of that, right? And ask, ask, ask, and you will receive. Do not worry; whatever you cry out for, God is going to give you, and so on.

It is not that easy. The Christian life also has its struggles, brothers and sisters; it has its hardships and its price. But you know what? In that struggle, God will gradually build you into a powerful man or woman in the Lord. Through struggles and difficulties, God will make you better. Everything that happens in your life—and we will see this later—everything that takes place in your life, God is using to build a precious human being like Christ Jesus, to form the image of Jesus in your life. Whatever may happen in your life, that is what Paul is going to say in the following passages, has meaning, and it will include suffering.

Look, if everything in the Christian life were well-being, joy, and blessing, we would be spoiled children. We would become accustomed to God giving me everything I want and, if He did not give it to me, I would throw a tantrum, as we often say, right? And we would be shallow because, you know what? Very often, suffering is what creates depth in a human being.

That is how it is. If we did not suffer, we would not reach the depths of human nobility, because pain has a way of opening the heart and opening up our feelings and making us tender. It makes the man who is overly self-confident tender. It makes the woman who is too timid strong, firm, and confident. So the Lord often uses the whip and uses discipline to train His warriors as well, and to strengthen them and temper them in the faith.

So we must accept everything: the glory and the suffering as well. Now, the Bible says that if we suffer with Christ, we will be raised with Him, we will reign with Him, and we will also be glorified.

Pay the price of being a child of God. Do not worry; here on earth, whatever falls to you, receive it with joy, receive it with resignation, receive it with obedience. Kiss the hand of your Papa, who gives you a little slap from time to time; bless Him and endure it there in the name of the Lord. Ask the Lord to give you grace and strength, and one day you too will reign with Christ Jesus and receive the reward for all your sufferings. For the Lord is faithful to fulfill what He has promised.

So, brothers and sisters, how beautiful the Lord is. We are not debtors to the flesh; we are debtors to the Spirit. We live in the Spirit because through that Spirit we have been adopted, we have been made children of God, and we can inherit all the rewards, all the blessings, and all the riches of a child of God.

Here on earth, we have reason to live with hope because Christ is with us. Let us bow our heads for a moment, and I would like to invite all of us who are here this morning to examine our consciences and ask ourselves, “How am I doing in my relationship with Christ Jesus?”

Can I truly say that I am a son or a daughter of God? Am I sure that I have been adopted into that new condition of being a child of God?

If you have doubts about that because you are not sure whether you have given your life to Jesus Christ, I want to invite you this morning to set that condition, that situation, right and to make sure that you leave here certain that you are—that you have been made—a daughter or a son of God by receiving Jesus as your Savior, declaring Him to be your Lord, opening your heart to Christ Jesus, and publicly receiving Him as your Lord.

And I want to ask whether there is anyone who wants to open their heart to Jesus this morning. Raise your hand so that I may pray for you. You may be in the balconies or wherever you are; I would like to invite you to make sure you have Christ in your heart if you have not done so before.

Is there anyone who would like to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior this morning? God bless that brother back there. God bless that hand being raised back there in the same area as well. Glory to God. Is there anyone else who would like to invite Jesus to be their Lord and Savior? Raise your hand. Blessed be the Lord. Another sister here is raising her hand.

We are adopted. Glory to God. Here in front of me as well. We are made children of God, adopted into the Kingdom of God under the patria potestas, the paternal authority of God, through that covenant we make with Christ Jesus. All our condemnations are cast aside, our sins are put aside, and we are adopted into the legitimate status of a child of God. Is there anyone else who would like to invite Christ into their heart?

The Lord says, “I will come in; if you open the door, I will come in and dine with you, and you with Me.”