From Fearful Slaves to Loving Sons | Romans 8:15-17

Introduction: Something underestimated, at times, when it comes to the sound handling of the Word of God, is the responsibility to rightly grasp the SENSE of a passage. What is the attitude represented in the words? What is the purpose of the words on the page? What are the words meant to accomplish in the listener or the reader? There have been many sermons preached that paid attention to the words of a passage, but plowed over the sense of the words, the goal of the passage. And when that happens, though the words might be rightly defined, and in that sense understood, they are not allowed to aim at their intended effect. It is comparable to saying to a person, “Did you say these words?” “Yes, I did, but you did not take them in the spirit in which they were given.” What we have, in this section of Romans, are words intended to teach the BELIEVER that salvation is free and final. These are words that CAN expose false professions of faith. But that would be a secondary use for these sections. The primary purpose is that THE PEOPLE OF GOD would be comforted, and encouraged, and made confident with respect to God’s saving work in their lives. The main point of the sections is not to awaken deceived people. The main point of the section is to fill the hearts of saved people with a true sense of their freedom, and the joyful responsibility that belongs to them as a free people. The point is wonder and worship. LOOK AT WHAT GOD HAS DONE! LOOK AT THE FREENESS OF IT ALL! LOOK AT THE SECURITY OF IT ALL! LOOK AT THE WONDER OF IT ALL! LIVE IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT ALL! That is the attitude of these verses. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE VERSES CANNOT WARN. We have recently studied a brief warning that Paul gives in the midst of his explanation and application of the gospel. If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if, by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Saved people are people who deal with their sin. Saved people have the Holy Spirit, and He leads us. And last week, we saw exactly what that leadership is. It is HIS LEADERSHIP that guarantees a new pathway of righteousness. It is His leadership that guarantees a life of repentance, a life characterized by obedience. We saw that salvation means A NEW FAMILY, and it means A NEW FOLLOWING. And we saw that this speaks of security because everyone who is in the family has the Spirit of God, and His presence guarantees the final salvation of those who are now God’s sons by faith in Jesus Christ. His presence speaks of our certain future inheritance. In fact, His presence is the FIRST TASTE of what now belongs to us, the first taste of our everlasting future. That teaching represents THE FIRST of FOUR REASONS why the believer can have assurance. What we have in this section are four evidences that one really is a child of God: four evidences of sonship. Which means four reasons for assurance. We saw the first one in verse 14. The evidence that I’m a child of God is that I’m led by God’s Spirit This morning we begin by looking at the second. The evidence that I’m a child of God is that I’ve received the Spirit of adoption. Paul teaches us what we have received by contrasting it with what is no longer true of us. There are two main points as we look at verse 15. (1) What we did not receive when we were converted (2) What we have received because we are converted