Adopted By A King Romans 8:12-17
Adopted By A King
Romans 8:12-17
Pastor Barry Kerner
My Father is rich in houses and lands
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
My Father’s own Son, the Saviour of men,
Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them;
But now He is reigning forever on high,
And will give me a home in heaven by and by.
I once was an outcast, stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth;
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.
I’m a child of the King, a child of the King;
With Jesus my Saviour, I’m a child of the King.
Do you know that I am the child of a King? Not just any King but THE KING. Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Eternal and Unchangeable. The Creator of the universe
If you’ll open your Bible to Romans 8 we’ll be looking at verses 12 through 17 today.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
This world has taught us to earn.
We’ve been conditioned to earn for as long as we can remember — earning praise and affirmation from parents, earning grades from teachers, earning playing time from coaches, earning attention from boys or girls, eventually earning paychecks from employers. We learned how to earn before we learned how to speak or even walk.
But our penchant for earning paralyzes us before God’s offer of true grace. We don’t know how to receive favor without working for it. And so we subtly (or not so subtly) trade away the one true gospel because we prefer to work for and serve God as slaves (or at least as employees), and not as sons. We don’t feel safe letting him do all the work, and earning gives us some semblance of control. We simply can’t believe eternal security and everlasting life could be offered as a gift.
THERE ARE THREE PROMISES FOR CHILDREN OF GRACE
Galatians as a whole suggests that we will be tempted to compromise and deny the gospel by treating God as an impersonal Master, and not a father. We’ll try to prove ourselves to him and earn his love when he has already loved us, and sent his Son for us.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:4–7)
Three unusually sweet promises lie in these four verses for precious sons and daughters of God.
First, when God redeems, he secures us forever. He never forgets or forsakes his own children. With Christ, we have eternal security.
Second, we have intimacy — a deep, personal, satisfying relationship with a heavenly Father, who knows us thoroughly, who loves us continually, and who promises to protect and provide for us.
Third, with Christ, we become heirs of all things — all things. Security. Intimacy. And the truest, fullest prosperity.
FIRST, YOU ARE SAFE.
The greatest threat in any of our lives is our own sin, because every sin deserves God’s wrath. Isaiah 53:6, 10 reminds us that the God we offended — the God we rebelled against — shielded us from his fully righteous punishment when he crushed his Son on the cross. You don’t have to wonder whether you’re good enough. You’re not. But Christ is. And being found in him by faith, you are counted as righteous in him. Hebrews 12:67-7 let us know that God may discipline you as your loving Father, but he will not punish you a second time because as Romans 8:1 tells us, he already punished His Son on your behalf. You are safe and secure in the care of your Father.
Every moment of every day before surrendering to Christ, we were in awful, eternal danger. Every second we resisted him we put ourselves at greater and greater risk, having no idea where we were headed and what we would pay for our sin.
But God rescued us in Christ. He paid our debt, bought our forgiveness and freedom, and staked our security on the worth of his Son. He redeemed “those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5). As a child of God, you are safe and secure from horrors you can’t even imagine. You are safe. You have a Father who watches over you, who knows your needs, who’s defeated death for you, who promises to deliver you to himself — safely.
SECOND, YOU ARE KNOWN AND LOVED.
We’re not only saved by God (at the cross) and from God (his wrath), but we’re saved to God. Being a part of God’s family means enjoying a Father-child relationship with him. “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). We can come into God’s very presence and speak with him, worship him, and ask for help. If you are in Christ, you have an infinite, almighty, and caring Protector and Provider.
The word Paul used for “Son” when he said, “God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4), is the same word he uses two verses later: “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). In the same way that God sent Jesus into our broken world to save us, he sent the Spirit into our sinful hearts to make us his sons and daughters.
By the Spirit, God himself is in us, binding us to himself, making us his own, and giving us access to him now through prayer, and then forever in eternity face to face. Psalm 16:11 tells us that we have intimacy with the only one who can truly know us and satisfy us. By our faith, he lives in us, listens to us, loves us; he is with us by his Spirit.
The Spirit gives us the confidence and freedom to cry out to God. He assures us that God really does love us. The cry he inspires is a cry to a dad: “Abba! Father!” The Spirit inside of us pleads as a child, and not as a slave. As children, our intimacy with the Father means his love is deep, persistent, and not decisively based on our performance. We are thoroughly known and profoundly loved. We are his.
THIRD, YOU ARE WEALTHY BEYOND IMAGINATION.
Lastly, we have true, lasting, other-worldly prosperity — a divine inheritance kept in heaven for you. “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:7).
It’s no mistake that, when Paul compares sons with slaves, he calls the son “the owner of everything” (Galatians 4:1). He’s speaking about sons in general, but he means for us to see something about what it means to be God’s son. All that he has — and he has it all — he wants to share with his redeemed and adopted children.
In 1 Corinthians 3:21-23Paul writes, “So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” That promise is so spectacular that it’s almost impossible to quantify or estimate what it could even mean. One day, we will own it all. And yet the greatest treasure we will inherit is not anything God can give us, but God himself. He’s the most valuable, most satisfying, most fulfilling reality that there is, and in Christ, we are his and he is ours (Revelation 21:3).
But by God’s grace, every single person in the whole wide world can become a member of Jesus family!
There is a Way
You Must be Born Again as a Child of God
John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
You Will Be Adopted into Jesus Family
Ephesians 1:4-5 says “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.”
You Will Reign with Jesus in Heaven
Romans 8:17 reminds us, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
How should we then live?
You are to Represent Jesus Here on Earth
In Ephesians 1:4 Paul wrote, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are a part of the King’s daughter! The church! You have been adopted by God and given a whole new identity in Christ. The idea of a King’s daughter comes from Psalm 45:13. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it means to be a King’s daughter, as we examine this verse word by word.
The King’s daughter is all glorious within” Psalm 45:13.
The King’s • Note the possessive apostrophe on King’s. You belong to the King of kings! He says to you, Isaiah 43:1 tells us, “Fear not, I have called you by your name. You are Mine,” He will never leave or forsake you. The King is ALL powerful for you, ALL knowing of you, and ALL loving towards you.
daughter • You are a cherished member of God’s royal family, given access to the fullness of His love and provision. You are not a slave nor a hired hand for God. You are a daughter—an heir of God. Romans 8:16-17 says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” As a King’s daughter, everything Jesus has is yours. Everything Jesus is, you are. 1 John 4:17 puts it this way, “As [Jesus] is, so are we in this world.”
is • It does not say “The King’s daughter will be”—nor “when she is good enough”—nor “in heaven”—nor “trying to be.” In Christ, the King’s daughter IS all glorious within. Your identity was sealed at salvation. It is final!
all glorious within • You are filled with the very life of Christ to do all things. Colossians 1:27 says, “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” When you know who you have within, you won’t go without.
The Armor Of God is found in Ephesians 6:10-19. God’s sons and daughter are outfitted for battle. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit.
I now think there should be an seventh element and this is our crown. For we who wear this crown are warriors who are fully armed and ready for battle with the true enemy. I want that enemy to know that I am the part of the daughter of the King and I am also adorned with the imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus. I am a part of the daughter with a sword and a crown!
While we are all God’s children, we are not all children of God. Scripture verifies this in the words of Paul as he spoke in Antioch to the Gentiles laying the foundation for Christian liberty. Galatians 3:26 tells us, “For we are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.” Once again it is only through Christ and his death on the cross and claiming Him as our Savior that we may be called children of God.
“I am son/daughter of a King, who is not moved by the world. For my God is with me and goes before me. I do not fear because I am His.”
These strong and beautiful words were written anonymously. While they are not scripture I choose to claim them because I claim Christ who claimed me. I know that I was formed by His mighty hands, dreamed up in His heart and placed in this world for a purpose. My crown is a little crooked and tarnished. It doesn’t hold exquisite jewels but it is now part of my armor of God and who I am.
This crown was placed upon my head and represents the work of Christ Jesus who refines me internally through His grace of The Holy Spirit, for I am His jewel. As He fills me with His imputed righteousness and covers me with it, it becomes clothing wrought of gold. Rich, glorious, substantial and strong. I am surrounded by princess warriors who have walked through the fire and more that will. We all wear the same crooked and tarnished crown. These are my sisters in the Kingdom of God and I love them dearly.
Here is what my King has done… He left his heavenly home and all the glories there to live in a dark and sinful world. He battled Satan in the desert and emerged a victor. He suffered the brutal torture and death on the cross, and He bore the sin of all mankind so that we might be made free and privileged to be called His own. The very worst day of His life was the very best day of my life!
Sons and Daughters of this remarkable King serve a living and risen Lord. He will return for me and you and that day is coming although we know not when. If you are uncertain where your crown is you have only to cast your eyes and your heart heavenly. He is waiting on you to claim Him as the son of God, the Savior and Redeemer. And even more He longs to have a relationship with you and enable you with His amazing gifts to further His kingdom and serve Him in this lifetime.
So dust off your crown, straighten it, and when you look in the mirror I hope that you see the face of Jesus smiling back at you as God Says, “Behold My Prince / Behold My Princess.”
Adopted By A King Romans 8:12-17 Pastor Barry Kerner
Adopted By A King
Romans 8:12-17
Pastor Barry Kerner
My Father is rich in houses and lands
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
My Father’s own Son, the Saviour of men,
Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them;
But now He is reigning forever on high,
And will give me a home in heaven by and by.
I once was an outcast, stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth;
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.
I’m a child of the King, a child of the King;
With Jesus my Saviour, I’m a child of the King.
Do you know that I am the child of a King? Not just any King but THE KING. Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Eternal and Unchangeable. The Creator of the universe
If you’ll open your Bible to Romans 8 we’ll be looking at verses 12 through 17 today.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
This world has taught us to earn.
We’ve been conditioned to earn for as long as we can remember — earning praise and affirmation from parents, earning grades from teachers, earning playing time from coaches, earning attention from boys or girls, eventually earning paychecks from employers. We learned how to earn before we learned how to speak or even walk.
But our penchant for earning paralyzes us before God’s offer of true grace. We don’t know how to receive favor without working for it. And so we subtly (or not so subtly) trade away the one true gospel because we prefer to work for and serve God as slaves (or at least as employees), and not as sons. We don’t feel safe letting him do all the work, and earning gives us some semblance of control. We simply can’t believe eternal security and everlasting life could be offered as a gift.
There are Three Promises for Children of Grace
Galatians as a whole suggests that we will be tempted to compromise and deny the gospel by treating God as an impersonal Master, and not a father. We’ll try to prove ourselves to him and earn his love when he has already loved us, and sent his Son for us.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:4–7)
Three unusually sweet promises lie in these four verses for precious sons and daughters of God.
First, when God redeems, he secures us forever. He never forgets or forsakes his own children. With Christ, we have eternal security.
Second, we have intimacy — a deep, personal, satisfying relationship with a heavenly Father, who knows us thoroughly, who loves us continually, and who promises to protect and provide for us.
Third, with Christ, we become heirs of all things — all things. Security. Intimacy. And the truest, fullest prosperity.
First, You are safe.
The greatest threat in any of our lives is our own sin, because every sin deserves God’s wrath. Isaiah 53:6, 10 reminds us that the God we offended — the God we rebelled against — shielded us from his fully righteous punishment when he crushed his Son on the cross. You don’t have to wonder whether you’re good enough. You’re not. But Christ is. And being found in him by faith, you are counted as righteous in him. Hebrews 12:67-7 let us know that God may discipline you as your loving Father, but he will not punish you a second time because as Romans 8:1 tells us, he already punished His Son on your behalf. You are safe and secure in the care of your Father.
Every moment of every day before surrendering to Christ, we were in awful, eternal danger. Every second we resisted him we put ourselves at greater and greater risk, having no idea where we were headed and what we would pay for our sin.
But God rescued us in Christ. He paid our debt, bought our forgiveness and freedom, and staked our security on the worth of his Son. He redeemed “those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5). As a child of God, you are safe and secure from horrors you can’t even imagine. You are safe. You have a Father who watches over you, who knows your needs, who’s defeated death for you, who promises to deliver you to himself — safely.
Second, You are known and loved.
We’re not only saved by God (at the cross) and from God (his wrath), but we’re saved to God. Being a part of God’s family means enjoying a Father-child relationship with him. “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). We can come into God’s very presence and speak with him, worship him, and ask for help. If you are in Christ, you have an infinite, almighty, and caring Protector and Provider.
The word Paul used for “Son” when he said, “God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4), is the same word he uses two verses later: “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). In the same way that God sent Jesus into our broken world to save us, he sent the Spirit into our sinful hearts to make us his sons and daughters.
By the Spirit, God himself is in us, binding us to himself, making us his own, and giving us access to him now through prayer, and then forever in eternity face to face. Psalm 16:11 tells us that we have intimacy with the only one who can truly know us and satisfy us. By our faith, he lives in us, listens to us, loves us; he is with us by his Spirit.
The Spirit gives us the confidence and freedom to cry out to God. He assures us that God really does love us. The cry he inspires is a cry to a dad: “Abba! Father!” The Spirit inside of us pleads as a child, and not as a slave. As children, our intimacy with the Father means his love is deep, persistent, and not decisively based on our performance. We are thoroughly known and profoundly loved. We are his.
Third, You are wealthy beyond imagination.
Lastly, we have true, lasting, other-worldly prosperity — a divine inheritance kept in heaven for you. “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:7).
It’s no mistake that, when Paul compares sons with slaves, he calls the son “the owner of everything” (Galatians 4:1). He’s speaking about sons in general, but he means for us to see something about what it means to be God’s son. All that he has — and he has it all — he wants to share with his redeemed and adopted children.
In 1 Corinthians 3:21-23Paul writes, “So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” That promise is so spectacular that it’s almost impossible to quantify or estimate what it could even mean. One day, we will own it all. And yet the greatest treasure we will inherit is not anything God can give us, but God himself. He’s the most valuable, most satisfying, most fulfilling reality that there is, and in Christ, we are his and he is ours (Revelation 21:3).
But by God’s grace, every single person in the whole wide world can become a member of Jesus family!
There is a Way
You Must be Born Again as a Child of God
John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
You Will Be Adopted into Jesus Family
Ephesians 1:4-5 says “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.”
You Will Reign with Jesus in Heaven
Romans 8:17 reminds us, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
How should we then live?
You are to Represent Jesus Here on Earth
In Ephesians 1:4 Paul wrote, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are a part of the King’s daughter! The church! You have been adopted by God and given a whole new identity in Christ. The idea of a King’s daughter comes from Psalm 45:13. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it means to be a King’s daughter, as we examine this verse word by word.
The King’s daughter is all glorious within” Psalm 45:13.
The King’s • Note the possessive apostrophe on King’s. You belong to the King of kings! He says to you, Isaiah 43:1 tells us, “Fear not, I have called you by your name. You are Mine,” He will never leave or forsake you. The King is ALL powerful for you, ALL knowing of you, and ALL loving towards you.
daughter • You are a cherished member of God’s royal family, given access to the fullness of His love and provision. You are not a slave nor a hired hand for God. You are a daughter—an heir of God. Romans 8:16-17 says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” As a King’s daughter, everything Jesus has is yours. Everything Jesus is, you are. 1 John 4:17 puts it this way, “As [Jesus] is, so are we in this world.”
is • It does not say “The King’s daughter will be”—nor “when she is good enough”—nor “in heaven”—nor “trying to be.” In Christ, the King’s daughter IS all glorious within. Your identity was sealed at salvation. It is final!
all glorious within • You are filled with the very life of Christ to do all things. Colossians 1:27 says, “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” When you know who you have within, you won’t go without.
The Armor Of God is found in Ephesians 6:10-19. God’s sons and daughter are outfitted for battle. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit.
I now think there should be an seventh element and this is our crown. For we who wear this crown are warriors who are fully armed and ready for battle with the true enemy. I want that enemy to know that I am the part of the daughter of the King and I am also adorned with the imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus. I am a part of the daughter with a sword and a crown!
While we are all God’s children, we are not all children of God. Scripture verifies this in the words of Paul as he spoke in Antioch to the Gentiles laying the foundation for Christian liberty. Galatians 3:26 tells us, “For we are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.” Once again it is only through Christ and his death on the cross and claiming Him as our Savior that we may be called children of God.
“I am son/daughter of a King, who is not moved by the world. For my God is with me and goes before me. I do not fear because I am His.”
These strong and beautiful words were written anonymously. While they are not scripture I choose to claim them because I claim Christ who claimed me. I know that I was formed by His mighty hands, dreamed up in His heart and placed in this world for a purpose. My crown is a little crooked and tarnished. It doesn’t hold exquisite jewels but it is now part of my armor of God and who I am.
This crown was placed upon my head and represents the work of Christ Jesus who refines me internally through His grace of The Holy Spirit, for I am His jewel. As He fills me with His imputed righteousness and covers me with it, it becomes clothing wrought of gold. Rich, glorious, substantial and strong. I am surrounded by princess warriors who have walked through the fire and more that will. We all wear the same crooked and tarnished crown. These are my sisters in the Kingdom of God and I love them dearly.
Here is what my King has done… He left his heavenly home and all the glories there to live in a dark and sinful world. He battled Satan in the desert and emerged a victor. He suffered the brutal torture and death on the cross, and He bore the sin of all mankind so that we might be made free and privileged to be called His own. The very worst day of His life was the very best day of my life!
Sons and Daughters of this remarkable King serve a living and risen Lord. He will return for me and you and that day is coming although we know not when. If you are uncertain where your crown is you have only to cast your eyes and your heart heavenly. He is waiting on you to claim Him as the son of God, the Savior and Redeemer. And even more He longs to have a relationship with you and enable you with His amazing gifts to further His kingdom and serve Him in this lifetime.
So dust off your crown, straighten it, and when you look in the mirror I hope that you see the face of Jesus smiling back at you as God Says, “Behold My Prince / Behold My Princess.”
Weekly Devotional with Pastor Barry Kerner
Weekly Devotional with Pastor Barry Kerner
Satan Needs A Permission Slip
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
—Luke 22:31-32
Jesus observed, :Satan has asked…” We can be certain that the old snake didn’t check in with God out of politeness or protocol. He had to get permission, and this means the Devil operates under constraints. He can’t do what he wants whenever he wishes. He has to clear it with God.
Don’t think this means God and the Devil are in cahoots. No way. And don’t think that God is somehow on the side of darkness because he makes the Devil come to him for permission. God must control evil. And he does so because he is good. Imagine a God who didn’t deliberately permit the smallest details of your particular sorrows. What if your trials weren’t screened by him? Think what this would mean. The Devil would be without constraints, free to do whatever he pleased. This means the world would be much worse than its present state of war, violence, greed, and misery. Left to his own, the Devil would make Jobs of us all!
I breathe a great sigh of relief over today’s verse. It teaches me that evil can only raise its ugly head when God deliberately backs away for a specific and intentional reason—always for a reason that is wise and good, even if hidden from this present life.
If God didn’t control evil, the result would be evil uncontrolled. So God permits what he hates in order to achieve what he loves—it’s just that most of us won’t see it until the other side of eternity.
Think for a moment about the balance of painful and joyful things in your life. Think of how, by God’s grace, you are managing your problems. And now consider how it could be worse. Were it not for God’s restraining hand it would be.
Lord, I praise you for your prayers for me and for making the Devil operate under constraints.
Knowing You Jesus Philippians 3:1-14 with Pastor Barry Kerner
Knowing You Jesus
Philippians 3:1-14
Pastor Barry Kerner
The greatest believers in history are those who had great passion to know God.
*In Exodus 33:18 Moses pleaded with the Lord, “Please, show me Your glory.” The psalmist in Psalm 42:1 cries out to God: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” And here in vs. 10, although Paul has known the Lord for 25 or 30 years, he longs “to know Him” more!
And God wants us to know Him better, understanding that this word “know” does not mean just knowing facts about God. It does not mean knowing God in a casual way. This word “know” is talking about experiencing God in a close, personal relationship.
When Paul said, “I want to know Him,” he used the same word the Bible uses for the close relationship between husband and wife. That’s how much Paul wanted to know God. And that’s how much God wants us to know Him.
- Jesus wants us to know Him first of all, because He can give us an excellent life.
As Paul said in vs. 7-8:
- What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
- But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
Paul talks about the excellence of knowing Jesus.
The NIV calls this the “surpassing greatness” of knowing Jesus.
Paul is telling us here that nothing could be better than knowing Jesus.
Here’s the background: Paul opened this chapter with a world class religious resume. Listen to vs. 4-6 from the New Living Translation.
Paul said:
- I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
- For I was circumcised when I was 8 days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
- And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.
Paul had a first class religious resume.
It was his security, his source of confidence and well-being.
But then Paul met Jesus Christ, and his life was changed forever.
Paul saw that his self-confidence was nothing compared to the Savior, so in vs. 7&8, Paul said:
- But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss (or worthless) for Christ.
- But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish (or garbage), that I may gain Christ.
Paul saw that everything he had was trash compared to the treasure of knowing Jesus Christ. And what Paul found out in vs. 7&8 is true for any kind of human achievement. God wants us to know that no earthly achievement can compare to the excellence of knowing Christ.
James Dobson was reminded of this in a remarkable way. The story started when he was in high school. Jim’s great ambition back then was to win the school’s tennis championship. He worked and practiced until he finally won. It was a great success, and Jim was very proud to see his tennis trophy in the school’s trophy case.
But years later, much to his surprise, the trophy arrived in the mail. The school was being remodeled, and someone had found Jim’s trophy in the trash. Dr. Dobson said, “Given enough time, all your trophies will be trashed by someone else!” (1)
Now is the time to understand that no earthly achievement can compare to the excellence of knowing Christ. And Jesus wants us to know Him, because He can give us an excellent life.
- But also because He can give us eternal life.
In vs. 9, Paul was thinking about God’s gift of eternal life.
Here he talked about being found in Christ “not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”
Paul gave up on having his own righteousness, because our righteousness can never measure up to God’s perfection. Yes, Paul kept the Old Testament ceremonial law better than most, but at the same time, his heart was filled with bitterness and hatred.
Paul was so aware of his own shortcoming that he once called himself the chief of sinners. So in vs. 9 of the New Living Translation Paul says: “I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”
The truth is that you need God’s merciful love as much as the worst sinner who has ever walked the earth. Alan Perkins explained: “It doesn’t matter if you’re a little better than someone else, or even a lot better than someone else. You’re still guilty of sin. You’re still condemned.
The person who jumps halfway across the Grand Canyon winds up just as dead as the person who only jumps 8 feet out from the cliff. They both fall a mile to the bottom. (2)
That’s why we have to depend on Christ’s perfect righteousness to make us right with God. Our goodness will never be enough. And the only way to have God’s righteousness in life is through faith in Jesus Christ:
Faith that the Bible is true in what it says about our sin.
Faith that God loves us in spite of our sins.
Faith that God became a man to live a perfect life and die on the cross for our sins.
Faith that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Faith that Jesus will forgive all of our sins and give us eternal life, — If we will open our heart to receive Him as our Lord, Savior and God.
Now when we put our faith in Jesus, all sorts of wonderful things begin to happen in our life:
Our sins are forgiven.
He puts His righteousness into our spiritual account.
And we are born again with eternal life, which only exists through knowing Jesus in a personal way.
This is why in vs. 9-11, Paul said he wanted to:
- . . be found in (Jesus) not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
- that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
- if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Jesus wants you to know Him, because He can give you eternal life.
There is no eternal life outside of knowing Jesus in a personal way, because there is no other way to know the Father in Heaven.
We see this truth in the prayer the Lord prayed just a few hours before the cross. In John 17:1-3, Jesus spoke to His Heavenly Father and said:
- “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
- as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
- And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
There is no eternal life in trying to keep God’s rules, because you can’t keep them all. There is no eternal life in religious things, like coming to church, being baptized, reading the Bible, even praying. All of these religious activities are dead unless you know Jesus in a personal way.
Michael Dean tells about sitting next to a very religious man on a flight from Phoenix. They struck up a conversation when the man noticed Michael reading a book on the history of Christianity. And they talked for hours. This other man had an amazing knowledge of the Bible, freely quoting verse after verse, sometimes from little-read parts of the Bible.
At first Michael thought the man might have been a Bible professor at some seminary. He most certainly had to be a believer. But Michael began to wonder, and had to know for sure, so he asked him if he was a Christian. The man looked downcast and said, “I cannot say that I am.”
He then went on to explain that he was 56 years old and had been reading the Bible since he was 6. But for some reason he just could not get to the point of belief.
That man knew a lot about the Bible, but he didn’t know Jesus. So Michael pointed Him to the cross, and urged him to call on Jesus.
Michael later wrote: “Well, the man told me he would give it thought, and he did, right then and there. He then asked me why he should put it off any longer. I returned the question. ‘Why should you put it off any longer?’
He was again silent for a moment (in prayer). Then he lifted his head and said, ‘My wife will not recognize me when I get home. I can’t wait to call her.’
And then with amazement on his face, and on his voice, he held out his hand in front of us, as if holding the Bible. And he said, ‘I understand now! For the first time in my life, I understand. — Now I think I can explain to my brother the questions he has long been asking me about.’
Up until that moment the Bible had always been that story, but now it is his story. The people in the Bible had been those people, but now they were his people too.’”
Michael said, “He then leaned over a little closer to me, and in almost a whisper, he said, ‘I do not want to let my emotions get the best of me. But right now I feel as if I could run down that aisle and jump for joy!’” (3)
And why not! He got on that plane spiritually dead.
But now he had eternal life, because he knows Jesus.
Jesus wants us to know Him, because He can give us eternal life.
- But also because He can give us an energized life.
We see Paul’s unstoppable energy in vs. 12-14:
- Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
- Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
- I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
God doesn’t give us this new life, so we can sit around taking it easy until we go to Heaven! No — God wants to give us a life full of energy, purpose, service and meaning. God wants to give us a life worth living.
Paul pressed on. And it helps to remember the tough situation he was in:
In chapter 1 Paul tells us that he is a prisoner for the Lord.
He was in chains and he had been for a while.
In fact, Paul didn’t know if he would live or die.
Then, in chapter 2, Paul tells us that he almost had grief piled up on top of grief, when a close friend almost died. Paul was going through extreme trouble. But in vs. 12, he said, “I’m pressing on!” And God wants us to press on!
That’s the energized life. We see it again in vs. 13, where Paul said he was “reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” It’s like a runner putting out maximum effort, stretching his whole body out to try to cross the finish line first.
English Pastor Geoff Thomas explained Paul’s drive to press on: “Paul wanted the world to be changed, and the church to be revived. He wanted much more of the knowledge of Jesus Christ transforming his life. Often he felt his own walk with God was threadbare.”
Then Geoff gave a testimony about Rex Pocock. He was a deacon in Providence Chapel, and died in October of 2002, at the age of 90. Rex kept a little diary, and after walking with the Lord for almost 70 years wrote these words in 1995: “More like a devil than a saint.”
And Pastor Geoff asked, “How often did Paul feel that? We know that he wrote, ‘O wretched man that I am.’ If he had been talking about his pre-conversion experience he would surely have written, ‘O wretched man that I was.’ But he said, ‘O wretched man that I am.’” (4)
Paul felt that he had a long way to go. So do we!
Christian, can you see a gap between where you are and where you ought to be? — That’s the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And we need to press on with great energy!
This is the God-given energy we see in Christians whose lives have counted for God.
The great evangelist George Whitefield said, “I am never better than when I am on full stretch for God.”
In his early years as a missionary in Africa David Livingstone expressed his willingness to serve by saying, “I’m willing to go in any direction, provided it is forward.”
One of Jonathan Edwards’ 70 Resolutions was this: “To live with all my might while I live.”
Amy Carmichael served as a missionary in India for 55 years without a trip home. And she wrote: “Give me the love that leads the way, the faith that nothing can dismay, the hope no disappointments tire, the passion that will burn like fire. Let me not sink to be a clod; Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.” (4)
God wants us to have this same kind of energized life.
And He will surely give you the energy to press on!
Are you weak? — Press on.
Are you weary? — Press on.
Are you worried? — Press on.
Are you weeping? — Press on.
“Press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
The first step is to know Him. — Do you know Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ wants us to know Him…
Because He can give us an excellent life.
Because He can give us eternal life.
And because He can give us an energized life.
Do you know Him? — Open your heart to receive Jesus…
And then press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
Jesus Restores Our Lives Colossians 3:12-17
Jesus Restores Our Lives
Colossians 3:12-17
Pastor Barry Kerner
If we are in Christ, if we have become Christians, a change has taken place. We have had to say goodbye to the Old Man, to Mr. Wrong and all the habits, passions, and practices of the past. And because Jesus has restored our life, because He has given us abundant life, we are new creations, made in His image.
Here in Colossians 3 verses 12-17 we are given clear and cogent instruction on what the new person in Christ looks like. We are told how to live the new life in Christ and what that restored life looks like. A certain and undeniable change should have taken place. That change is not something we have done. It is something Christ has done for us, in us and through us. And as we read and study this passage, we need to remember that the Bible is not a book about people. It is a book about God and His dealings with people – In this case God’s dealings with us as His people.
With your Bibles open let’s read Colossians 3 verses 12 through 17.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
As we examine this text, let us remember that God is always proactive. He always takes the initiative. He took the initiative in creation, He took the initiative in salvation, and He takes the initiative in our sanctification. God always takes the initiative and then calls upon us to respond appropriately.
Notice five areas where He has taken the initiative to restore us, and the response He expects from us as those who have been restored to fellowship with Him.
First, because He chose us, we enjoy favor with God (v. 12a)
Paul begins by reminding us of the fact that God chose us or elected us, and therefore we enjoy a position of unique favor with God.
We are Holy – set apart from sin, from the rest of the world, and set apart unto God. We are God’s unique creation, His people, chosen to demonstrate His reality to the world in which we live. We were chosen to be different so that others can see His power and glory. He restored us to demonstrate His power to the world around us.
Phillips’ translation says because you are “Picked representatives of the new humanity, purified and beloved of God Himself.”
Now not only are we holy, or set apart unto God, but we are beloved, or loved by God. It means that God loves us and wants the very best for us.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8a: “The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you . . .”
And Because God loves us He counsels us to put off the old man, the sinful way of life, and to “put on,” or clothe ourselves, cover ourselves. It is the same word used in Ephesians 6:14 where the Scripture tells us to put on the armor of God before we do spiritual warfare. But in this context he is telling us to put on certain characteristics that will prepare us for peace, not war. Whereas in Ephesians we are putting on the armor for war, here we are dressing ourselves for a peaceful existence with other Christians. We are to clothe ourselves with garments of the new life in Christ. These are the garments worn by the person who has been changed by Jesus
This brings us to our second observation. Look in verses 12b-14.
Because He changed us, we love the People of God (verses 12b-14)
Paul is clearly talking about unity in the church. He is talking about the kind of harmony that should exist among those people who really love the Lord, among those people in whom the Holy Spirit is living.
Verse 14 sums it up, and the preceding characteristics should all be seen in light of the love God commands us to have for one another. Remember that love is the sash or belt that binds all of these garments together.
- We are to have heartfelt compassion
This is mercy or sympathy. As Christians we are part of the same family and we should not be indifferent to one another. We should not be cruel, harsh, and cold toward one another. One of the characteristics of a genuine Christian is that he or she possesses heartfelt compassion for other Christians. This is nothing less than feeling towards others as God feels towards them.
- We are to put on kindness
This is a sweetness of disposition. It is also translated generosity or goodness. A person who is kind has good things to say about others, is considerate of the feelings of others. Their words are tempered with grace and with tenderness. A kind person is not abrupt or harsh but is soft-hearted, and genuinely cares about others.
Everyone of us knows someone like this, someone whose manner and smile communicates kindness, even if they never said a word. This, too, is evidence of the Holy Spirit living inside of a Christian.
- We are told to put on the garment of humility
This means that we are to submit ourselves one to another. Putting the other person before ourselves, to have a proper estimation of ourselves. It means to be lowly. In God’s economy it is the lowly that are exalted and the proud who are brought down. If Jesus humbled Himself, even to death on the cross, we too must humble ourselves.
We live in a world where we are constantly told we must promote ourselves. People today are seeking to “one up” the next guy. Their pride is easily wounded. In this crazy society people even shoot each other if someone disrespects them on the freeway. The Christian should never be possessed by this type of attitude.
It is interesting to me how we have come to understand sin. In many Christian circles mortal sins are always defined by sins of the flesh. Those who drink or smoke, watch R-rated movies, and other such worldly things are looked down upon as the dregs of society. While sins of the heart sins such as pride, arrogance, anger, envy, hatred, and mean spiritedness – are tolerated. Self promotion and boasting may be seen as marks of a “secure” or well adjusted person in the world, but in the church such attitudes create division and discord. Humility enables us to be servants instead of insisting that others serve us.
Remember that God is always more concerned with the condition of our heart for it is the heart that determines the actions and course of our lives.
- We must put on the garment of gentleness or meekness
It is the willingness to suffer injury instead of inflicting it. What a contrast with the way the world thinks. The world sees meekness as weakness.
Sometime ago humorist J. Upton Dickson said he was writing a book titled Cower Power, and that he had also founded a group for submissive people called Doormats – an acrostic for Dependent Organization of Really Meek and Timid Souls, if there were no objections. Their motto was, “The meek shall inherit the earth, if that’s OK with everybody.” Their symbol was a yellow traffic light.” That’s the way the world sees meekness, as weakness. But the Bible says Jesus was meek, and we know He was not weak. Meekness, from a biblical perspective, is strength under control. It takes a greater strength to exhibit meekness than to burst forth with anger and lose control.
- We are told to clothe or envelop ourselves with patience
This is long suffering, especially in the face of injury or insult. It is marked by the ability to respond in love when others treat us poorly.
William Barclay writes, “This is the spirit which never loses its patience with its fellow-men. Their foolishness and their unteachability never drive it to cynicism or despair; their insults and their ill-treatment never drive it to bitterness or wrath”
Patience in our own strength is impossible. Patience is not something the world teaches us to practice. In fact, while the world may give lip service to these characteristics in a kind of patronizing kind of way, it looks down upon these traits and ascribes them to weak, timid, insecure losers.
So the question is this: Will we give in to worldly pressures and act like the world, or will we allow Christ to have control of our lives, and live according to His mandates, regardless of what the world thinks?
When we clothe ourselves with gentleness and meekness two specific things take place:
- We forbear with one another
That means to put up with or tolerate one another. It can even mean “to endure.” Have you ever know those people you simply had to endure. Being around them is never any fun, it is never a joy or pleasure. But we are told to tolerate, to have patience with or endure these people. There can never be unity in the church unless we are willing to tolerate one another. The only way we can do this is through forgiveness.
- We forgive one another
That’s the second thing that happens when we clothe ourselves in these traits – we forgive one another, even as Christ forgave us. Even if you have a valid complaint against someone, forgive.
I have seen people who call themselves Christians who have unforgiving spirits. Their pride and ego was wounded and they cannot bring themselves to forgive another Christian for some offense. One author puts it this way: “Forgiveness is surrendering my right to hurt you for hurting me.”
To forgive someone involves three things. First, it means to forego the right of striking back. One rejects the urge to repay gossip with gossip and a bad turn with a worse turn. Second, it means replacing the feeling of resentment and anger with good will, a love that seeks the other’s welfare, not harm. Third, it means the forgiving person takes steps to restore good relations.
For the true Christian, forgiveness may not be easy, but it’s not optional either. It is an essential characteristic of the transformed life. Forbearance and forgiveness are never a problem when we are talking about people we really love. Because He restored us to fellowship with Him, we love the people of God even as He loves them..
Third, because He called us, we participate in the peace of God (v. 15)
The word translated “called” means to summon or to call your name, as if you had been summoned to court or to the table of the king. The imagery here is that God has called us out of the world to live in His eternal presence. In His presence there is peace. There is no fighting between His people. If Christians could simply picture themselves in the presence of God, where His holiness, might, splendor, and glory were on display, there would never be any lack of unity or peace between them.
The peace of God mentioned here is not the indwelling feeling of comfort, but rather an external reality that mediates between Christians. What Paul is saying here is that the peace of God should govern our hearts. It should have control of and power over our hearts to the end that as a body we are one.
Don’t misunderstand me. There is a right way and a wrong way to have peace. The wrong way is to leave sin unchecked, to compromise truth for the sake of unity, to allow the devil a foothold. The right way is by speaking the truth in love, confronting sin, and forgiving the sinner. But because we are called or summoned into His presence, we are to allow His peace to arbitrate all of our dealings with one another.
Fourth, because He counsels us, we build up the family of God (v. 16)
There is much we could say about the word of God, about its promises, its power, its prophecies, its principles and its priorities. But the context of what Paul says here is the instructive nature of the Word of God as we meditate upon it, as we ingest it as spiritual food. He is talking about the fruit that is borne from instruction. That is the richness of the Word, the fruit it bears in our lives.
As it teaches us, we instruct, teach, and admonish one another. The truth here is that we are one other’s keepers. We are accountable to God for one another, particularly in the local church.
In wisdom we are to teach and admonish one another. Teaching is the positive side of this coin. It is where we positively instruct one another, where we share insights, truths, and wisdom with each other. Admonition, on the other hand, is the negative side of teaching. It means to warn or to caution others. When you love someone, you do both. You instruct them as to what they should do and you warn them as to what they should not do.
Because God’s Word is at home in our hearts, we are to allow it to direct our interactions with one another. We are to allow God’s Word to teach us, to counsel us as we teach and admonish one another. And all this is to be done in an attitude of praise and worship, as we give thanks to God for all He has done.
This is fascinatingly insightful. Some people, when they admonish or teach others, assume a condescending or holier than thou attitude. But what the Scripture is teaching us is that our attitude should be one of praise and worship, one of gratitude and thanksgiving.
When you are focused upon praising God, upon worshiping Him, upon thanking Him for all He has done for you, it will keep you in His presence, mindful of His mercy and His grace, mindful of your own unworthiness. It will keep you from having a wrong attitude toward others.
Finally, because He cares for us, we cherish the Name of God (v. 17)
Our gratitude causes us to be careful about how we carry the name of Christ. This is one aspect of third third commandment on not taking the Lord’s name in vain. If we call ourselves Christians are we reflecting Christ or are we living in vain reflecting things of the world. It causes us to be mindful of the fact that we are called Christians, and that our actions reflect to the world the reality of Christ. That’s what it means to do something in the name of Christ – to do it on His behalf, under His authority, and according to His will.
Conclusion
Is that wonderful change in your life evident? Has light filled the darkness of your soul? How has it changed the way you treat your fellow Christian? Has His presence given you the ability to forbear, to forgive, to love others more than you love yourself? What change has been wrought in your life? Has your life ever been restored? And if not, why not today?