Church Sermon - March 17, 2002

HEIRS WITH CHRIST!

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Ezekiel 37:1-3 (4-10) 11-14
Gospel Lesson; John 11:47-53
Sermon Text; Romans 8:11-19

What if it was the case that you had the ability to go to a lawyer here in town, and that lawyer could draw up a legal document for you. That legal document would give you the legal right to Heaven itself! And, what if God, Himself, were bound and committed to following that legal document. You could hold that legal document before God and say, "God, this document says that Heaven is mine." And, God had to accept that document. We all would want a legal document like that, wouldn’t we? It would guarantee Heaven to us. It would guarantee salvation for us.

However, when we begin to look at our legal standing before God, what does scripture tell us? The Bible tells us God is a God of justice.

God would not be God, if He were not a God of Justice. Justice means that God follows a legal standard. God has very clearly laid out before you and me a very simple, plain, clear, legal standard. That legal standard is what we call the

That legal standard is God’s Law. God’s Law states what we are to do and what we are not to do.

When we begin to compare ourselves to the legal standard of God’s Law, which God has shown us in the Bible, we find that our legal condition is that

God must find me guilty. I have not followed the Ten Commandments. I have broken them many times and in many ways. In God’s legal justice, I am guilty.

In God’s legal justice there must be a sentence proclaimed, because that is justice. Scripture has already proclaimed that sentence on us. The Bible says,

So I am legally guilty. The sentence that has been proclaimed legally on me is that my soul should die. It should die, not just physically, but forever in Hell, for all eternity. I stand condemned. That is my legal standing before God. I have no legal right to stand before God and demand that He let me enter His perfect Heaven.

In fact scripture goes even much deeper than that, when it describes our legal standing. Scripture not only says that we are guilty and we stand condemned because of our sins, and our souls are sentenced to die, but the Bible also describes you and me as slaves. The Bible says that we are slaves to sin.

We don’t truly know much about slavery, now days. But you need to understand that when the Bible calls you a "slave to sin" and a "slave to the devil" by nature, people who read the Bible in Jesus’ day and truly knew what a slave was, understood that a slave is someone who has

no legal rights, and has

no legal standing

before anyone.

A slave had no right to stand before some judge and say, "Well, sir, I ought to inherit these great possessions of this man, because I have a legal right to it." A slave had no legal right to anything! He was not due to inherit anything. Nothing belonged to him. He had no possessions. He was not owed anything. He had no legal rights.

The Bible describes us as slaves to sin, by nature. We are trapped in our sin. We can do nothing, but sin. The Bible says,

If I am not a Christian, I am a slave to sin. And, as a slave, I have no legal standing and there is nothing that I can claim as my right before God. So, when we look at the way the Bible describes us legally, you and I are in huge, HUGE trouble. That ought to concern us greatly.

How do we get out of that legal trouble before God? We all need to understand that God is not a God who simply says, "I will do away with justice. I will work according to a system that has nothing to do with justice." God is a God of justice. Justice must be carried out. God is a God of legal requirements. Those legal requirements must be carried out; otherwise God would cease to be God.

So what do we do? You and I must turn to scripture. There we must see what God says in His grace and His mercy, about you and me from a legal perspective, from a legal standpoint. God in His mercy and in His love, sees that we are legally trapped and legally bound to Hell for all eternity. God in His mercy and in His love found a way that you and I can have legal standing before Him. God in His mercy and in His love has changed your legal status!

He has changed you from a slave to a son!

A son is someone who has legal rights. A son is someone who has legal standing. A son is someone who has an inheritance coming to him. A son is someone who legally has the possessions of his parents coming to him. God has changed you from a slave to a son! He has changed your legal standing.

I don’t know if you and I always understand what a profound thing it is, when scripture calls

and when scripture says that

There, scripture is telling you that you have a different legal standing. Listen to what our scripture says today, "You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship. By Him we cry Abba, Father." God is our Father now. We have a legal standing before God, as our Father. It says, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs. We are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory." You see what God says to you, here in scripture. God says to you, that He has adopted you, as His son!

We know that God paid a HUGE price to adopt you as His child. The price that He paid to adopt you as His child, to adopt you as His son, was the life and death of His own dear Son. God signed the "Legal Document" that changed you from a slave to a son, with the blood of His own Son. Here in Romans, Chapter 8, you and I should find profound comfort. We read in Romans, Chapter 8 that it is as if God has taken a legal document, placed it in your hands and said, "You are my adopted child." This is God’s Word. This is better than any legal document could ever be! God has legally called you His son! When He calls you His son, He goes on and says that You have a legal right as His heir! You have a legal right to claim what belongs to your Father, as your very own! It says, "We are heirs, with Christ, of God’s glory." There, God places in your hands the "legal document" that you can hold before Him on the Day of Judgment! And on that day, you can say, "God, you have named me, in your will as your son, with the legal rights to all of your possessions! And, that means your home is my Home, because I am your son and you are my Father. I have a legal right to your home in Heaven." The Bible tells us that we are all sons of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. By believing in Christ as our savior, our legal standing is changed and we are sons of God!

And we have a legal right to all that belongs to our Father, including the glory of Heaven!

How did that happen? The Bible tells us how. Think about the following passage. It says, "When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons."

Did you hear what it said at the end, there?

"When the time had fully come,

God sent His Son,

born of a woman,

born under law,

to redeem those under the law,

that we might receive the full rights of sons!"

You have received the full legal rights, and the full legal standing of a son of God! He is your very own Father and you have everything that belongs to Him, coming to you, because of what Jesus Christ did!

Jesus changed our legal standing.

Jesus made a trade.

Jesus took our legal standing.

Jesus took our sin.

Jesus took our guilt.

Jesus took our shame.

Jesus took our legal punishment.

Jesus died

for you.

Jesus took our legal punishment on that cross and there He legally paid for all the sins that you and I have ever committed. He satisfied God’s legal justice. In exchange, Jesus gave us His legal standing. He is the Son of God.

He has the right to everything that belongs to His Father. And, Jesus has given to us His perfect life, His holy life, as our very own! Because of Jesus, it is as if we, ourselves, were the Son of God! And, because of what Christ has done, we now have a legal right,

a LEGAL RIGHT,

as His heirs!

We are named in God’s Will,

as His heirs!!!

Now, what should that do in our lives? Our scripture reading goes on and says this, "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation ---but, it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but, if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are lead by the Spirit of God are sons of God!" Here it says that we have an obligation. We know that because of everything we have just heard in scripture. We have an obligation.

Just imagine if I were a slave to some wicked master who misused me, abused me, mistreated me and made me do things that I did not want to do. And then imagine if some very wealthy, generous man paid a huge price to purchase me! And, not only did he set me free, but he adopted me! He legally adopted me as his own son! And, he told me that everything that belonged to him would be mine someday! I would feel an obligation to that man. I would not feel any obligation to serve that wicked master, anymore. I would not feel under any compulsion to do what he had wanted me to do, because I am free! I would feel an obligation towards my father, not because I had to, not because I was forced to, but because I am his son! I want to serve my father. I want to live the way my father wants me to live. Our scripture says, God has changed your legal standing from one who was condemned and had no legal rights before God at all, to one who is a son of God. Therefore you are a legal heir to Heaven. God’s adopted child has an obligation not to live according to our sinful nature. I don’t want to live according to my sinful nature anymore. I don’t want to be a slave to that anymore. I don’t want to be a slave at all anymore, because I know that if I live according to my sinful nature, I will die.

I want to live as a son of God. I want to live as someone who has been set free. I am compelled to do that out of love for my savior. I want to serve him. I want to live for him. I want to live like my brother, Christ. I want to be kind. I want to be loving. I want to be patient. I want to be generous. I want to be forgiving, because of what God has done for me.

You

are all

sons of God,

by faith in

Amen.

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