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We should be thankful what for what is mentioned on the top of the page, namely the theme of the conference, Romans six, seven, and 8. I've sometimes given a talk entitled The Two-Fold View of the Cross. The first view of the cross is in Romans chapter five where we learn that Christ died for us. The second view of the cross is in Romans chapter six where we learn that we died with Christ. Uh, but unfortunately, there are many Christians who rejoice in the first view, who know very little indeed of the second view. And I do trust that the result of this conference will be that all of us will know more experimentally, not simply theoretically, but experimentally of Romans six, seven, and eight.
Perhaps I could just add one little word concerning Romans chapter six. Now, verse eleven says, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We had a visit from Mr. W. Rogers years ago. He's a very able Bible teacher, and he gave an illustration of this that I've always thought was very good. He imagined a soldier lying wounded on a battlefield, and the enemy captain comes along to see if any of his men are there, and he calls out. Ah, but this wounded soldier knows it's the enemy captain, and so he's afraid of him. He might, uh, put a bayonet into him if he recognizes him.
So he lies perfectly still with his eyes closed, not a movement in his body. You see, he's dead as far as that man's concerned. Doesn't want anything to do with that man. Well, after a while, the enemy captain goes away, and his own captain comes, and his own captain calls out, and immediately he responds. To the one, he's dead, to the other, he's alive. Now, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could always live just like that? Well, now, Dr. Naismith, he needs no further introduction. Thank you very much, Mr.
Carson, and good morning all. I want to begin this morning by expressing my very deep gratitude to you all, not only for the welcome you gave me when I came, but for the warm fellowship I've been privileged to enjoy. It's been a wonderful privilege and honor for me to be here at this men's conference. I appreciate being invited to speak here. I appreciate being invited at all here, and I appreciate all the conversations I've been engaged in, and all of you have come and spoken to me. Thank you very much for your kind fellowship, and I go away with very, very happy memories of this conference, of which I've heard many times in the past.
May the Lord richly bless you all as you go to your own homes and your own assemblies and seek to serve the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps I might be permitted to give one final story. I don't usually tell stories like this, except at conferences like this, so don't tell if I'm speaking at some of your assemblies, don't expect me to tell a funny story to begin with. I'll tell you which one you can. All right, thank you. This, like many, many stories, is about a preacher. How many stories are told against preachers, poor preachers, and good preachers too.
This was a preacher in North America who was called a circuit riding preacher some years ago. I don't know if you have them here, probably in the Outback you have them. They're preachers who have their horses, and they go around on their horse, riding around their parish and their parishioners. And this, this preacher was like that. Unfortunately, his horse had died, and so instead of having to ride on horseback, he, uh, walked on foot. Well, that's a different story, and he was looking all around for a, a horse. And on his travels, one day he passed a farm, and on the farm there was a big notice saying, horse for sale, five dollars.
Well, even in those days, five dollars was practically nothing for a horse, so he thought he would investigate. He had a little plan and a little doubts about what the horse would be like, and so he went in and, uh, he said to the farmer, I see you have a horse for sale. The farmer said, yes, I have. Uh, what's wrong with it? Oh, said the farmer, there's nothing wrong with it. It's a perfectly good horse. Can I see it? So the farmer brought it out, and here was a lovely horse, and the preacher was well acquainted with horses. He knew how to judge a horse, and he said, well, there must be something wrong with this horse.
Well, the farmer said, well, there is a little wrong with it, but it's nothing serious. He said, this horse doesn't respond to the usual commands. If you say gee up, it doesn't do it. If you say wo back, it doesn't do it. Well, how do you get it to go, said the preacher. Well, in order to get it to go, you have to say praise the Lord, and in order to get it to stop, you have to say amen. Oh, said the preacher, well, that's just my language. It's not my street. And can I take it for a ride? Yes, by all means. So he got onto the horse, praise the Lord. Off the horse went. Amen, it stopped, and he did it several times, and the horse seemed to be a perfect horse.
So he came back and he said, you've got your five dollars, and I've got my horse. And he went off on his horse, and all went very well. Until at one point he came near the edge of a cliff. Hadn't got used to the horse by this time, he began to say, go back, go back. It was natural to him. And you can imagine what happened, the horse kept going until it was just at the edge, and he remembered, he said, Amen. The horse stopped. Oh, praise the Lord. Well, enough of this nonsense.
Let's get on. Romans chapter eight, please. Romans chapter eight. We're going to read the first seventeen verses of this great chapter, Romans chapter eight. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. I'm omitting the next few verses, for I believe they weren't in the original. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But the spirit of him that ra- if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
May the Lord bless to us these wonderful words from his holy book. Let's again commit ourselves to him in prayer. O God our Father, we thank thee for all thy word. We thank thee especially this morning for this great chapter that we are going to consider. We thank thee for its wonderful truths, and we pray that as we ponder it together, it may come in freshness to our hearts in the power of thy Holy Spirit, and may our lives be affected as we think of all that thou has done and all that thou are doing. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. You can only see a little of the mighty ocean as you stand on the rocky shore, but out there, beyond the eye's horizon, there's more.
Romans eight is like a deep, fathomless, boundless ocean of divine truth. You can only grasp a little of God's wisdom, a few rich gems from his boundless store, but in here, beyond the mind's horizon, there's more. This morning we're going to try to grasp a few of these gems and try to consider them together, but it's inexhaustible. It's profound. We can never exhaust its treasures. We can never plumb its depths.
We can never scale its heights, but we can always taste its sweetness, and we can enjoy refreshment as we look at its verses. It's like a mighty ocean. Yesterday afternoon, I was kindly taken by John Logan and some friends to the ocean. We didn't swim the whole ocean, but we enjoyed just a little bit of one of the shores of the ocean. You come to a great reservoir of water that supplies the city. You can never drink the whole reservoir, but you can enjoy and taste a little glass full of that refreshing water. You sit down to a great banquet, provided for thousands, perhaps.
You could never exhaust it, but you're satisfied with a little portion that you receive from that banquet. And so it is with this great chapter. We can be satisfied with a little portion, uh, from any section of this wonderful chapter, Romans chapter eight. It's been said that if the Bible is like a diamond, Romans eight is one of the most, Romans is one of the most sparkling jewels, and Romans eight is its dazzling point. How true that is. What a great chapter it is. It's a chapter of great text. Romans eight and twenty eight is one that stands out in all of our minds.
It's a chapter of great truths, truths like justification and predestination and emancipation and glorification and preservation. They're all contained in this great chapter. It's a cha- cha- chapter of great themes. In the section that we've read together, an outstanding theme is the theme of the Spirit of God, the power for the Christian life. Also in this passage, towards the end of it, there's the theme of sonship, the position of the Christian in the sight of God. It leads into another theme, the theme of suffering, the Christian's problem. That goes into another theme, the theme of sal- salvation, particularly its future aspect, the Christian's, uh, prospect.
And then finally, there's the theme of security, the Christian's preservation. All these wonderful themes are contained, and topics are contained in this great chapter. Let's look then... at the chapter. You'll notice that it begins with no condemnation, and it's often been pointed out that it ends with no separation. The last verse tells us that nothing can separate. No condemnation at the beginning because we're in Christ Jesus. No sup- no separation at the end because it's the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And there's the, the keynote of the chapter, in Christ Jesus. All the blessings that are contained in this great chapter are the result of our union with the Lord Jesus. We've been brought into his eternal association with him, and this is one of the apostles' keynotes, one of his favorite phrases, in Christ Jesus. We've read it in previous chapters as well, in union with the Lord Jesus, and we are in union with the Lord Jesus, and just as the members of our body are in union with us, with the body, so we are in union with the head, the Lord Jesus. Just as the branches of the vine are in union with the, the vine, so we are in Christ Jesus.
Just as the stones in a building are in union with the building, so we are living stones in relation to the chief cornerstone. Just as the bride is in relation to the bridegroom, so we are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in Christ Jesus at the moment of conversion, and this brings us into possession of these great and eternal blessings. Let's look then at verse one. Verse one says, therefore, there's now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. As I said, the remaining words of this text are excluded, uh, from most of, uh, the manuscripts and most of the translations, and I don't think they should be included in this verse, for that stands on its own.
No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Notice verse one begins therefore, and verse two follows for. Therefore links the words with what precedes. For links it with what follows. Therefore there is now no condemnation. Why? Because of what the previous chapters have said, not only chapter six and seven, but all the previous chapters of this great epistle. As John Stott has said, the apostle here surveys the whole Christian landscape. All the great blessings that are ours, justification and sanctification, lead to this conclusion, there is no condemnation.
And then verse four, verse two four links it with the subsequent verse. Not only is there no condemnation, but there is emancipation. For the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. And that introduces us to the first main subject of Romans chapter eight. The Spirit of God has been noticeably absent in the previous chapters. As a matter of fact, there is only one very direct reference to the Spirit of God in the first seven ver- seven chapters of the epistle, and that's to be found in chapter five. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by his Spirit, whom he has given to us.
There's a possible indirect reference in Romans one and in Romans seven and verse six. However, the only one direct reference is in Romans five. but here in chapter eight there are more references to the Spirit of God than in any other chapter in the whole Bible. This is the chapter of the Spirit, ranks alongside with the teaching of the Lord Jesus in John fourteen and fifteen and sixteen. And what a great chapter it is about the Holy Spirit. And that explains why Romans seven was written, as we noticed yesterday in my conviction, Romans seven uh was the story of a Christian trying to live the Christian life in his own strength without the power of the Holy Spirit.
And here he comes to realize that the Spirit of God is there to release him from the bondage that he felt, to give him victory over the sin that was conquering him, to deliver him from the situation in which he was, and he is joyful and grateful for the Spirit of God. So let's examine what he says about the Holy Spirit in this chapter. Before we take it consecutively, uh, there are two things I think we should, uh, consider about the Spirit of God that are clearly presented here. First of all, the person of the Spirit. There are a number of interesting titles of the Spirit of God that are seen in this chapter.
Look, for example, at verse nine and we find two titles: the Spirit of God dwell in you, and at the end of the verse, the Spirit of Christ. I believe the apostle is referring in both instances to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. Earlier, he's the Spirit of life in Christ. Later, he's the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead. And it's evident that the Spirit of God, in many parts of the Word of God, is God himself, the Spirit, that the Spirit is deity. And this is presented here too. Look at, uh, verse nine, it says, it so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
The Spirit dwells in you. Verse ten says, and if Christ be in you. And it's evident that these two are almost synonymous statements. The Spirit dwells in us, and Christ dwells in us. And we are told from John fourteen that the Father dwells in us as well. He makes his dwelling with us. So Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, persons of the Holy Trinity, are one, and this is an evident indication of the deity of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Spirit. The second thing we want to notice, very importantly, is our possession of the Holy Spirit. Verse nine says, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
It so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. That's a very clear and definite statement. It tells us that if we don't have the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of God, we don't belong to Christ. As the NEB puts it, we are not Christians. We're not a Christian unless we have the Spirit of God. In other words, this clearly teaches that the pre- presence and the possession of the Holy Spirit is not something that comes after salvation, but it's an integral part of our salvation.
It's not something that we have to wait for, like a, a so-called baptism, some months or years after we are saved, but the Spirit of God comes into our lives the moment we are saved. Soon as my all I ventured on the, uh, on, uh, Christ's atoning blood, the Spirit of Holy Spirit entered, and I was born of God. The Spirit of God is the ga- guest of every Christian from the moment of conversion. And of course, this isn't the only passage that teaches this. We could le- talk of a number of other passages where the same truth is clear. But I don't have time for this, to go into that.
The third thing we want to notice about the Spirit of God is not only his person, not only the possession of the Spirit, but thirdly, coming to the beginning of the chapter again, the principle of the Spirit. We've noticed already, as we looked at Romans seven that there are a number of laws that the Apostle Paul deals with. Here's another law. He says, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Here's another principle in the Christian life, and this is the principle that sets us free from the law of sin that we were thinking of that leads to death. And I think this is the same law as we have in the previous chapter described as the law of sin, the law of sin and death.
That's the law that prevents me doing God's law. But the Spirit of God has a principle in our life by which he is enab- he is able to free us, to emancipate us from that law. Notice what it is? It's the law of the spirit of life. For it's the Spirit of God who imparts this life. This life is in the spirit, and it's by that life that he gives to us, uh, that we are able to rise above the law. The illustration has often been used. You throw a stone up in the air, what happens? Well, it comes down. Comes down to earth again, unless something gr- stops it and it's way down.
Why? Because of the law of gravity that brings it down. But supposing you have a live bird in your hand and you throw it up in the air, what happens to it? Does it come down? No, it doesn't come down. It flies away. Does it have not have the law of gravity? Yes, but it overcomes the law of gravity. It's been set free from the law of gravity. Why has it been set free? Because it's got the law of life, and the law of life enables it to be free from the law of gravity. And so the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus enables us to soar higher and to be free from the law of sin and death, which is in our members, the principle of the Spirit.
And then thirdly, we- fourthly, we're going to notice the, the, uh, power of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit. Previous chapter shows us as powerless Christians, depending on our own strength and our own power, the apostle says, I cannot. The things that I would, I don't do. And now he is a powerful Christian because he's realized the power of the Holy Spirit. First of all, this power is an emancipating power. Previously, he was sold under sin. He was in captivity. Who shall deliver me, he said. Well, he says, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has emancipated me, has set me free from the law of sin and death.
You and I have been emancipated, and the spirit of God is the means of that emancipation. But it's not only an emancipating power, it's an enabling power. Look at verse three: for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness or the righteous works, the righteous requirements of the law could be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, that's where the phrase should occur, but after the spirit. In other words, there is an enabling power, and you'll notice that the apostle begins what?
The law, that's God's moral law embodied in the Ten Commandments, what it could not do, but you say it was perfect. It wasn't because of any imperfection or any weakness in the law that it couldn't do it. It was because it was weak through the flesh. It commanded, but it didn't give the ability to us to obey, and it was because of the flesh, uh, that it was, uh, it couldn't do it. Because of us that the law couldn't do it. It didn't give the ability to obey, so it not only commanded, but it condemned. It couldn't justify, it couldn't sanctify. It set the standard which I could not attain to because of my inability.
But God has done this, and he's done it using two great means. First of all, in verse three there is the work of the Son of God for us. And then in verse four there is the work of the Spirit of God in us. Let's look at the work of the Son of God in, for us. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. That's the story of the incarnation. The incarnation. God sent his own son, and it tells us two things about the incarnation. It tells us, first of all, the deity of the Lord Jesus. He was his own son, the son of God, his deity.
It tells us, secondly, his humanity in the likeness of sinful flesh. The Lord Jesus came amongst men, God manifest in flesh, and I want you to notice, as no doubt most of you have ha- have noticed before now, the precision of the terms that the Spirit of God uses. He says, in the likeness of sinful flesh. He doesn't simply say in flesh, that would be true, but for the purposes of his statement, it would be inadequate. He doesn't say in sinful flesh because that would be not true. It was not sinful flesh. He doesn't say in the likeness of flesh because that would be not true because he was in flesh.
But he says specifically, clearly, definitely in the likeness of sinful flesh. And there's a great statement of the incarnation, in the likeness of sinful flesh. But it wasn't only by the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, but by his crucifixion. Notice what it says, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. For sin means a sacrifice for sin. That points to the cross on which he bore our sins in his own body in the tree. And it tells us that God sent his son not only to live in this world, but to die for us on the cross of Calvary, and because he died for us, he bore our sins and paid its tremendous price.
And the apostle goes on to say, condemned sin in the flesh. How could he, how did he do that? How was sin condemned? Well, the spotless, perfect life of Christ has condemned sin in all of us. There's the standard, there's the glory of God, and we've all come short of it. He's condemned sin in the flesh by his sinless life, but preeminently he's condemned sin in the flesh by his atoning substitutionary death, when he died for sins, when he bore our sins in his body on the tree. So first of all, we have the work of Christ for us. And secondly, in verse four, we have the work of the Spirit of God in us.
What does that mean? Well, it means walking under his control, walking according to his, his demands, walking according to the Spirit of God, living in our lives, not controlled by our sinful nature, but controlled by the Spirit of God. And as we live under his control, the righteous demands and claims of the law are fulfilled in us. Finally, in this passage, we find the ennobling power of the Holy Spirit from verses five to eight. Very briefly, let's run over it. There's a contrast here between the regenerate person who is after the flesh, uh, the unregenerate person who is after the flesh, and the regenerate person who is after the spirit.
There's a contrast in their minds in verse, uh, five. those who are after the flesh, the unregenerate person, uh, they mind, they desire, uh, they have understanding of, they have affections for the things of the flesh. That's what they're occupied with. But those that are after the Spirit have desires after the things of the Spirit, and his things control their understanding and mind and affections. And then we notice the end of the, they too, to be carnally minded, or the mind of the flesh leads to death. The mind of the Spirit leads to life and peace. The mind of the flesh is hostility and alienation and death.
The mind of the Spirit, brought by the Spirit of God, is life and peace. Then the attitude to God is different. The mind of the flesh is at enmity to God. We are brought into a relationship with God and are submissive to him, subject to him. And then finally, the corollary in verse eight, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. And that pretty well sums up Romans seven, doesn't it? That sums up our own experience, and it's only in the power of the Spirit of God living in our lives that we can bring pleasure and glory to God. Let's turn to verse ten and we discover in verse ten, verse ten to verse seventeen is the proof of the Spirit, the proof of the Spirit in our lives.
How can we know that the Spirit of God is within us? How can other people know that the proof of the, that the Spirit of God is within us? Well, the proof of the Spirit is a present proof and a future proof. Verse ten, it's present. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. That doesn't mean that your bodies are dead just now. They're obviously very much alive as I look at you, but it means that the body is subject to death. This, we live in a physical body, a body that's mortal. This body is going, is going to die unless the Lord comes to take us to be with himself. This body is subject to death, but the apostle goes on to say the spirit is life because of righteousness.
In the Bible that I'm using, the word spirit is in a, with a capital letter S. This is another one where it's difficult to know whether it should be a capital or a, a non-capital. However, it doesn't make very much, much difference. If it's the human spirit, the human spirit is life because of the Holy Spirit that is within us. The whole, the spirit is light because of righteousness. And then there is a future truth of the Spirit. Look at verse eleven: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
The presence of the Spirit of God in our lives is a proof for the future, a proof of that resurrection which is going to come when the Lord Jesus calls us to be with himself at the time of the rapture. The proof of the Spirit then is a proof of life now, and it's a proof of resurrection life hereafter. What a wonderful thing to have the Spirit of God within us. There are other things about the Spirit of God in this chapter, but they belong to a subsequent part of it. So let's go on to verses twelve and thirteen and let's notice the practical response that we should have to the Spirit of God living within us. If all this is true, and how wonderfully true it is, what should be the practical attitudes that we should have?
Well, the apostle puts it from the negative standpoint, but we can readily deduce from the negative standpoint what he's meaning from the positive standpoint. He says in verse uh eleven, verse twelve, therefore, brethren, we are debtors. To whom are we debtors? Well, he doesn't tell us here, but he says we have no indebtedness. We have no obligation to the flesh, to live in the after the flesh. We have read a good bit about the flesh in the earlier part of the chapter, in verses five to eight. We have no obligation to that flesh. It doesn't do us any good. It's opposed to God. It ends in death. We have no obligation to live after the flesh, and yet how many of us respond to its demands and its control?
If we have no obligation to the flesh, what is our obligation to? We have an obligation to the Spirit of God, to live in accordance with the Spirit of God, to live under his control day by day, to be filled with the Spirit, to manifest his fruit in our lives, to bear fruit for God by the Spirit. For verse thirteen says, if you live after the flesh, you shall die. There'll be no fruit, no evidence of life if the, if we live after the flesh, that doesn't mean we're going to die eternally. I believe in the eternal preservation of the saints, in the eternal security of every believer. But so far as our life for God is concerned, it's going to be of no value if we live after the flesh.
But if we, through the Spirit, to put to death the deeds of the body, we shall live and manifest the Spirit's life within us. Well, we've hurried through these verses pretty fast about the Spirit of God, and we must go on to the next theme of the, of the last four verses, and very briefly, for time is nearly finished, let's think of the great subject of sonship. For the subject of the Spirit of God leads very clearly and just, uh, without any hesitation to the subject of sonship, just as the subject of sonship leads without a break into the subject of suffering, the subject of sonship, the Christian's position.
And verse fourteen to seventeen bring this to us. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We want to notice, first of all, the position we have, and there are two words in the passage, very briefly, that indicate that. The first is the word sons, and the second is the word in verse, uh, sixteen, we are the children of God. Now, these are two different words that are used in the Greek. Some people equate them, but I think there is a difference between them. The sons are those who are maturity, those who have char- are characterized by dignity. The dignity of our position is indicated by the word son, and son leads us to the, the word adoption that we read in this, in this passage.
We are adopted into, uh, the family of God. In the Roman situation, Roman practice, uh, the adoption of the slave was by an heirless master was carried out in this way. The master and the slave appeared before the magistrate. Three times the master asked the slave, do you wish to be my son? If the slave replied, three times I do, he was l- acknowledged legally as the son. And as the son, he was entitled to all the rights and all the privileges and all the honor of son, though previously it was without any claim whatever. He was in no way inferior to any son born in the family.
You and I have been adopted. We've received the spirit of adoption. We've been brought into God's family, and we are his sons. Previously, we're slaves under the spirit of bondage or slavery, but the Lord has brought us into his family, and he has brought us into, uh, the family as sons. How are we recognized? Well, we're recognized by the fact that we are led by the Spirit. As the Spirit of God leads us, and as we respond to that, people recognize us, and we can recognize ourselves as the sons of God. And then there's the other character, the other characteristic of our position.
We are the children of God. If son speaks of dignity and position, children speaks of relationship and nature. Uh, a slave brought into us the adoption by a Roman master, a son, may have got been brought into the inheritance and all the privileges and position, uh, of being a son, but he couldn't inherit the master's nature. But you and I have been brought as children by regeneration into God's family, and we've been brought into the possession of the divine nature. We not only have the divine position, we have the divine nature, and we are in the royal family of heaven.
We once were slaves, and we've been brought into God's family as sons, as children. What are the privileges of sons, very briefly? The privileges of sons relate to, to God. First of all, we relate to God the Father. We can look up to God and we can say, Abba, Father. Abba, the word of the little child. Father, the word of the mature son. Abba, the word of the Hebrew. Father, the word of the Greek. Whether we're Hebrew or Greek, whether we're mature or little children, we can look up and we can call him Father. We've been brought into this relationship. Not only are we related to God the Father, but we are associated with God the Son.
We are joint heirs with Christ, and we are led by God the Spirit, brought into this wonderful relationship. We're going to pass over a little. We've been brought also into possessions. We are joint heirs with Christ. We are brought into an inheritance that we don't deserve, but we're in that inheritance because we are joint heirs with the Lord Jesus, and what an inheritance it is. We are joint heirs of all things. My father used to tell a story. He worked in the Godavari district of South India, and on one of his trips, uh, evangelistic trips, he had took his Bible and a series of tracts with him, and he had to cross a canal, crossed in a boat.
Opposite him there was a Brahmin who began to ask about him, about my father. The Brahmin asked about my father, if he had a wife, if he had any sons. My father said he had five sons. The Brahmin said, well, you're very rich. Yes, said my father, I'm very rich. How much salary do you get, said the Brahmin? Well, my father was living in faith, so he answered that question, as we've seen Paul answer questions, by asking another question. He asked the Brahmin, do you have any family? The Brahmin told him about his family. Uh, how much salary do you pay your family? Oh, says the Brahmin, I don't pay them any salary. I educate them, I clothe them, I feed them.
You think I don't do enough for them? Uh, no, I don't think you don't do enough for them, said my father. But you know, my father does the same for me. Oh, said the Brahmin. Your father pays you? Who is your father? Your father must be very rich. And my dad said, yes, my father is very rich. You see these trees, they're his. This canal, it's his. That sky, it's his. The sun and the stars, they're his. Ah, said the Brahmin, your father is God. Our father is God. We are blessed with a great inheritance.
We are brought into God's family. And if we're in God's family, if it's such a great thing to be part of the family of God, surely we have some responsibilities. We're not going to turn to it at this moment, but I suggest you read the last half of First Peter one, and you'll discover that there are three responsibilities there of the family of God. First of all, there should be loyalty. We should be obedient children. Loyalty to the Father. And then there should be likeness. If you call on God as Father, you should be like him, you should be holy, for he is holy. There should be a likeness to our Father.
And thirdly, there should be love, unfeigned love of the brethren to one another, and of course to our Father. May God enable us by his spirit to live as those who are in the family of God, manifesting loyalty, likeness, and love.