Why is it necessary to be born again into God's family? Why wouldn't it just be enough to be adopted into God's family? Why are both essential?
Well, the adoption is essential because God wants to affirm that you have all the legal rights, responsibilities, and privilege of the oldest son. But at the same time, you can't enjoy those blessings, responsibilities, and privileges unless you've been born again. It takes a change of nature. that allows you to experience these things. Welcome to Search the Scriptures, the Bible teaching ministry of Dr.
Carl Broge. Senior Pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Today is part two of Pastor Carl's sermon entitled, adopted into God's family from the book of Romans chapter 8. Verses fourteen through seventeen. Today, We continue the topic of adoption.
When we talk about entering God's kingdom, It is not by our own works or natural birth. It requires a birth from above. Through the Spirit, we are adopted as God's children. This adoption gives gives us the privilege to call him Father with confidence and love. The Holy Spirit not only brings us into God's family, But it also confirms our identity and strengths and our relationship with Him.
Let's join Pastor Carl now. As he continues.
So when we think of adoption, we think typically in a Western mindset of transferring one child from one family into another. But understand a first century reader understood much more than that. In fact, there was a formal ceremony. where you're biologically born son. Would quote unquote be adopted or inducted into manhood.
And so they had a special ceremony in which you did that, where he received the full rights of the family and of Roman citizenship. In the same way, adoption into the family of God means that we've been inducted into God's family with all of heaven's rights and citizenship. And we're going to see that in a moment.
So, Roman adoption would be done even with your own biological children, and it could also be done, of course, with a child that is not your own. But you have brought them into your family. In either case, there were three primary implications of Roman adoption. First, and you should jot these down because this will help you to understand New Testament adoption more fully. The adopted person lost all the rights from his quote-unquote old family and gained all the rights of the new family.
That was the first aspect. And so in the most binding legal way as possible, he literally, especially if he was not bloodborn, had a new father. Secondly, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out. All of his debts, for instance, were canceled. And third, when adoption took place in the first century, the adopted son or daughter received the right to carry on the name of the new family.
And to share in the family's inheritance. In fact, history records that this ceremony was so binding and complete that when Emperor Claudius wanted to adopt Nero. Nero was not his bloodborn son. But he wanted to adopt Nero, that Nero, who of course becomes a very wicked leader and leads in the Neronian persecutions around 68, 69. Nero, nonetheless, would receive all the rights to lead as the emperor.
He would succeed him on the throne.
Now, again, they're not related in any way at all. In fact, Claudius had a biological daughter by the name of Octavia. Later on, when Nero falls in love, with Octavia. in order to strengthen his hold on the throne. He wants to marry Octavia.
And interestingly, under the Roman Senate, as history records, because they were not related by blood, they had to pass legislation to allow it.
Now with that background, let me ask you a question. Were you born into God's family? or were you adopted into God's family? And of course, the answer is yes. Both are true.
The Bible teaches you were born into God's family and you were adopted into God's family. Spiritually speaking, we are born again into the family of God. Legally speaking, we are adopted into the family of God. And both descriptions are true. And when you get a handle on both aspects, it will really.
Excite your heart and mind.
So, on the one hand, when you are saved, you are born into God's family. Jesus said in John 3, you must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. He'll say, You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. And in John 3:7, He said, Do not be amazed that I say, You must be born again.
Now the word again has a dual nuance in the original common Greek of the New Testament. You could say born from above or born a second time. Both are implied in the word. But to be able to see God's kingdom, that is to understand and perceive spiritual truth, because a natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. They're spiritually appraised.
And to be able to enter God's kingdom, you must have a birth from above.
Now, God has blessed my wife and I with five children. And our five children are our children because our life is in each of those children. Even so, when you are born again, God implants His life, God the Holy Spirit, inside of you. We studied it last time in depth, Romans 8 and verse 9.
However, you are not in the flesh. But in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, notice the term of familiarity. He does not belong to him. The Apostle Peter concurs with this when in 2 Peter 1.4, you should have that out in the margin from the last message, 2 Peter 1.4, out next to verse 9, Peter will write that we become partakers of the divine nature, which simply indicates that we have a new family.
So at our first birth, we were brought into our parents. Parents' family. At our second birth, we were brought into God's family. That's why John the Apostle can equally testify. See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God, and such we are.
So when you're saved, something happens to you legally, and something happens to you vitally.
Something happens on the inside.
So not only do I get a new legal status that we're going to explain by God's grace in just a moment, we get a new nature on the inside. We are brothers and sisters in Christ because the same Spirit of God that lives in me lives in you if you've met him.
Now, with that said, let's talk about adoption for just a moment. One of my professors in seminary defined adoption in this way: he said, and this is just part of what he wrote, but initially, let me read to you what he said: it's one man. Taking the son or daughter of another man to be his own.
Son or daughter, and thus giving him or her the same legal position, advantages, and privileges as a son or daughter by birth.
So, when we think about God adopting us, understand that there's a distinct. Difference, especially between Western adoption, what we practice here in the United States, and divine adoption.
Well, it is true that God's adoption, like human adoption, places us into a family in which we do not naturally belong. And by the way, we don't naturally belong. as a member of the body of Christ. Why? Because Paul will underscore that by nature, Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, what are we?
Children of wrath. There are different types of wrath that are underscored in Scripture. There's cataclysmic wrath like Noah's flood, like Sodom and Gomorrah being rained on with fire and brimstone. There's a coming future wrath. Unlike my predators' friends who say that the book of Revelation is history, with the exception of Revelation 19, when Christ comes back to the earth.
It's not history. Jesus speaks of a coming tribulation wrath. A say Matthew 24 is historical. with the exception of the second coming. No, you have to spiritualize the text.
To come to that conclusion, there's a literal seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble. Jesus, in one of his letters in the Revelation, says it will come upon the entire world. And in Matthew 24, 21, he said, unless the time had been cut short, there's not a single person on the earth who could have survived.
So there's cataclysmic wrath, there's tribulation wrath, there's eternal wrath that is still out in front. In the lake of fire that's forever and ever. There's abiding wrath. Jesus said, He that believes in the Son has life. He who does not believe, the wrath of God abides on him.
And so this morning, if you are not in Christ, that means you're still identified in Adam. And if you die as an accountable human being, little babies obviously are not, but if you die as an accountable individual in Adam, you will meet God in His wrath. That which is abiding on you will instantly become a reality. But then there's also the wrath of abandonment, present tense wrath. I was speaking at a banquet on Friday evening, and we spoke about this: how God is abandoning our nation.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven. In the 1960s, we formally said through a number of laws and practices, we're not interested in God. We took the Ten Commandments off the walls and we put policemen in the halls. We said we're not going to read the Bible, we're not going to pray, we're going to teach our little children that God didn't create us, we evolved from monkeys. No, God, thank you.
And God gave us over to sensuality. Then he gave us over to homosexuality. And God is now giving us over to stage three: to a depraved and odikamos mind, an upside-down mind. We're increasingly, not just in these United States, but across the world, men call evil good and good evil. And so we don't naturally belong in this family.
God has to birth us into this family. And when He does, He adopts us, and it is argued in the book of Galatians. When a baby Christian comes into the family of God, he receives a full inheritance. If you have rich parents, say, worth a hundred million dollars, but you're just an infant. You can enjoy those riches.
But when the Bible speaks of adoption, even of the newest believer, he can enjoy all of those riches. You see, the new Christian who's been saved three hours, Is entitled as much to the riches of a believer who's known Christ for fifty or sixty years. And of course, the New Testament, when it speaks of God adopting us, is not speaking of our adoption, but more with a Roman perspective. And of course, he's writing to the church at Rome. It's largely Gentile, not exclusively.
Initially, if you remember, the church was all Jewish. Everyone up until Acts chapter 8 is a Jew who's converted. Then we have what some would call half breeds, half Jewish, half Samaritan. Acts 8, who are saved, and then the first Gentiles, non-Jews, Acts 10. But initially the church is all Jewish.
But as the gospel spreads, it becomes more and more Gentile. And as Paul will teach in Romans 11, there's still a remnant. There's still a remnant of Jewish people that remain that called Jesus Lord, but one of these days it's going to change. God's going to remove the church, Jew and Gentile alike. And then he's going to use the nation of Israel.
This nation that is becoming increasingly hated across the nation and abandoned. By nations across the world. Even our own United States last week said, well, we'll negotiate and we'll give Iran. F-35s.
So we love Israel, but we want to give them a weapon to kill Israel. It's an oxymoron. And we know there's coming a time, because Zechariah 12. Zechariah 14 Matthew 24. And Revelation 16 teaches that all the nations of the world will go against Israel.
And we're seeing that unfolded in our day. And it should wake us up. But one of these days, God's going to switch methodologies and He's going to use the Jewish people. And through their testimony, this gospel of the kingdom shall go to the whole world. And then the end will come.
But what I want you to see is that when you are adopted into the family of God, even as the newest Christian. You inherit all of the privileges and blessings of an adult child as in a Roman adoption. All of the privileges and blessings. And even if you didn't know Greek and the word that specified that, just reading the New Testament, you could come to no other conclusion. You don't read, well, Carl, you shall not lie, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery.
But Mary over here, who's only been saved for three weeks, she's got the option. No, she is just as much accountable to the moral law of God as I am, and she is just as much privileged to enjoy the spiritual blessings of God as I am. And so you see, it may be odd in our minds because of how we think of adoption, but it's not a mystery in the mind of the biblicists. God gives you all the legal rights and all of the privileges as someone who has been saved for decades. That's important, and we'll see why, especially as we work through Romans chapter 8.
It's a great, great blessing.
So we are members of a body. It's called the church. It's called the body of Christ. We have become partakers of the divine nature. We have a spiritual standing of adoption, but we also have a spiritual standing of a new birth.
So there's an important question we need to ask. Why is it necessary to be born again into God's family? Why wouldn't it just be enough to be adopted into God's family? Why are both essential?
Well, the adoption is essential because God wants to affirm that you have all the legal rights, responsibilities, and privilege of the oldest son. But at the same time, you can't enjoy those blessings, responsibilities, and privileges unless you've been born again. It takes a change of nature. That allows you to experience these things.
So the Spirit brings his leading. I know that was a lot of time, but now let's dig into that truth. Look at verse 14. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Now, the word being led by, the Greek word, describes someone who is willingly led. In other words, when he speaks of the Spirit of God leading us, it's not God putting a hook in our nose and dragging us along. We are making decisions. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
Now, how exactly does God, the Holy Spirit, lead us?
Well, first of all, as the context indicates, he helps us through this struggle. That's Romans 7. The good that I wish, I cannot do. I do the very thing I don't want to do. But then he'll say in 8:4 that the requirements of the law can be fulfilled not by us, but in us, as we depend upon the Spirit.
Or in verse 13: For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. It's an amazing statement. The Spirit of God helps us to put to death the deeds of the body. The older translations say mortify.
We don't use the word mortification much anymore today, except maybe when we speak of morticians. But it means to put to death, in this context, sin. And one of the marks that you are being led by the Spirit, that you are a member of God's family, is that you want to put to death because the Spirit in you puts a new desire through you to want to please the Lord. Listen to what Peter said in 2 Peter 1.4 when he speaks of becoming a partaker of the divine nature. For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises in order that By them, you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
You see, when you get saved, you get a new nature. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creature, a new creation. And it is through that new nature that the Spirit of God can lead you. And so you might say, well, Pastor, how do I know if I really have this new nature? This is the time to ask that.
Because there's coming a time when it'll be too late to ask that. Please understand there are people across the American church who claim to be born again, but who sadly are not because they do not define terms biblically speaking. Jesus spoke at the end of time of this mass of people who profess to know him. But there's zero evidence that they have a new nature. You'll remember Matthew 7:22 as he brought the Sermon on the Mount to a close.
Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord. Did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? Underscoring your thinking many. And remember, he's not talking about some who profess some other kind of faith. He's talking about people who profess the Christian faith.
He's talking about people who outwardly claim to know the Lord. But like the Jews in John chapter 8, inwardly there's no reality. They didn't really know God. And to drive home his point, as Jesus often does, he'll use hyperbole. To cause us to step back and see the truth, he doesn't look for some ho-hum kind of profession of faith, but the most dramatic because in Christ's name they did miracles, they cast out demons.
And they preached on his behalf. I mean, what better profession than that could there be? Today, if we saw someone doing that, we'd say, well, God's hand is on that individual. That's a spirit-anointed ministry. But in Scripture, an unbeliever can do all three of those.
And in spite of false powers that they exercise in his name, It didn't mean that they knew the Lord. Here's a slide that I put together this week. I think it might help you. I went through the places in Scripture. Where Satan does miracles through lost people.
You remember Pharaoh's magicians in Exodus 7 and 8? Moses is there in front of Pharaoh, and so are the magicians. And they perform a number of miracles. In Deuteronomy 13. Just before Moses dies up on top of Mount Nero, he warns them of false prophets who are going to come along and perform miracles.
And he reminds them what's important is not the miracles. But the doctrine, that's the real litmus test. If someone is a true leader for the Lord, in Matthew 7, we just noted, but in Matthew 24, 24, Jesus spoke of coming false prophets during the tribulation period. That's the context. People who will come and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect, those elect converted people during the time of the tribulation period.
They're going to be everywhere performing miracles. Don't be deceived. Satan empowered Simon the sorcerer in Acts chapter 8. He empowered a slave woman in Acts 16:16. Paul underscores that both men and angels.
In Galatians 1, 6 through 9, can preach falsely the wrong, a different gospel, a heteros gospel. In 2 Thessalonians 2:9, the Antichrist is going to come and he's going to perform signs, wonders, and miracles. The Antichrist in Revelation 13:3 is going to be miraculously healed. He's going to receive a fatal wound. He's going to die.
Now no one can mimic resurrection. But he will be not resurrected, he will be raised to life. It will be a miracle. And people will want to follow him. Look at him who's dead.
Now he's alive. Who will be doing that? Satan? You'll be miraculously healed. The false prophet.
who is his sidekick. Remember, during the time of the Revelation, Four through, or yeah, chapter really six through eighteen. There's an unholy trinity. Satan takes the place of God the Father. The Antichrist takes the place of God the Son, and the false prophet takes the place.
of God the Holy Spirit. And just as the Holy Spirit points men to Christ, The false prophet will point men to the Antichrist. He'll bring fire down out of the sky, Revelation 13:13. Has that ever happened? No.
Again, the all-millennialist predators has to spiritualize scripture and apply a different hermeneutic. And he has to deny these basic miraculous things. Future occurrence. The false prophet will have an image in the temple of God that will literally speak. Which will be a sign to the Jewish people that they had embraced the wrong person.
Because God would never contradict his word. That's the point of Deuteronomy 13. He'll never contradict his word. Where, on the one hand, this man can claim to be God in human flesh and at the same time commit idolatry. The false prophet will do that.
And then coming false prophets, Revelation 16, scores of them. What are they going to do? They're going to convince the kings of the world through their satanic power that they should march against Israel. They're in the battle of Armageddon.
So just know that these people who have talk without truth, who have profession without any reality, They won't be prepared to meet God in the day of judgment. The Lord Jesus will say, And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. They'll make their solemn profession, Lord, Lord. And he'll make his solemn profession. I never knew you.
Remember, the essence of eternal life. Is that they might know you, the only true God in Christ whom thou hast sent. A day is coming when God will deal out retribution to those who do not know God. Jesus will say, I never knew you. He didn't know their name.
Of course, he did. He knows the number of hairs on their head. But he didn't know them in a saving way, in a life-changing way. And their names were not in the book of life. Their profession was with their lips only.
It was outward and it was not inward. Peter, he also mentions this divine nature and how it changes us. And he reminds us that there are people who make a false profession who don't have this divine nature when he says it has happened to them according to the true proverb. A dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallering in the mire. You can wash a pig up, perfume the pig up, Take that female pig, put a ribbon around her neck, but because her nature is out of a sow, she's going to go back into the mud.
Dogs to their vomit, but shape.
Well, they desire green pastures. And so if nature Influences appetite, you need to ask, do you have an appetite for the things of God? Do you have an appetite to live like your Heavenly Father is? That is a holy life. And so nature influences appetite, and as night follows day, nature influences your behavior.
An eagle flies because it has the nature of an eagle to fly high in the sky, as I was blessed to see one recently. A dolphin swims, as my grandchildren saw some yesterday. Why? Because that's the nature of a dolphin. And our behavior ought to be like that of the Holy Father.
It ought to be holy. Nature also determines the environment. Where do squirrels live? In trees. Where do moles live?
And my yard is overtaken by them right now. In the grass, underground. Trout, they swim in water. Where does the child of God like to live? In the environment not of darkness, But in the environment of light.
He wants His lifestyle to be consistent with this new nature within. Nature also determines association. Lions travel in prides. Um Fish travel in schools. Sheep travel in flocks.
Where does the born-again people travel? With the people of God. I was blessed and privileged to lead a couple to Christ recently, and they said, Pastor Carl, everything's changed. I said, Well, what's happening? I said, We just can't get enough.
We can't wait until Sunday comes. We can't wait to come here. That's what happens when you're born from above. Your environment, your association changes. And so, real Christians who are in fellowship with God.
They're led by the Spirit of God. You may be someone who has no real love for the church. It can only mean one of two things. You're either grossly out of fellowship with the Lord, And there will be huge implications at the judgment of the just, the judgment of believers in heaven. Or, very possibly, you've never met the Lord.
You have a fake profession. Because by this, we know we've passed out of darkness into light. We love the brethren. If you enjoyed today's message, you can order a CD or DVD copy by calling Search the Scriptures. At 877.
787 seven four seven eight and requesting program Our Identity in Christ. 017. Don't forget that you can download the Search Descriptures app. where you can listen to the entire series on our identity in Christ. or follow Search Descriptions on YouTube.
We hope that you will join us tomorrow. as we continue to search the scriptures.
