In this episode, we reflect on a return to the airwaves after a brief hiatus, addressing the importance of unwavering faith in the face of life’s trials. Delve into the teachings of Romans 8, where the discussion centers around the transition from a spirit of fear to the embrace of divine adoption. Learn how this sacred adoption redefines our relationship with God, transforming it from one of servitude to a cherished child’s intimate bond. Explore the biblical insights that illuminate our path to joy and security in our faith walk.
Good to be back. Sorry I had to leave for a while. I’ve had a and leave you with all of these repeat programs. But I’ve had a terrible chest and head cold and I very rarely get sick. But this was the time. And so I’ve been dousing myself with the freshly squeezed orange juice and lemon juice and all the rest of it. and low on sugar and pastries and what have you, not that I eat much of those anyway, but I’m a lot better, though you can hear that I’m not totally better, but anyway, thank you for your patience. We are in Romans 8, and it’s a shame that we had to do a break there and do repeats, but you’re picking up the message, I hope, of life in Jesus Christ, the resurrection life of Christ. We live by faith. so that all the troubles and all the negatives that seem so dour and down and depressing are actually in the life and resurrection of Christ. Our Jesus, our Father, and the Holy Spirit is present with us, are present with us while these things go on. They are in charge. They are redirecting their effects. We shall find that a little bit later in Romans 8, where all things work together for good. God is able to turn things around. Now, that doesn’t mean we’ll necessarily see these effects in this earth, but the effects will be known in the kingdom of heaven. But it also does mean that sometimes the effects are changed on this earth. So we are encouraged not to live according to the flesh. Now, remember what that means. To live according to the flesh doesn’t mean simply to be lustful or physically interested in things like drugs and alcohol, though those are certainly included in the flesh. But it means living the way in which Adam, after the fall, lived, under the power of sin and death. We are no longer living under the power of sin and death, that is, to those who believe in Jesus Christ as our atonement and our resurrection. We’re now living in the Spirit. So what does that mean in a daily life? Well, it means that we stop interpreting everything that goes on in our life in a sort of sin-death way, in which we say, oh dear, here it goes again, and oh, I’m so surrounded by problems, and we see everything in a negative light. No, we have to see in the Spirit and through the Spirit. And that means that we see God’s action rather than our action or other people’s action towards us that’s negative. We look at God’s action involved in every event. That is what it is by faith to live in the Spirit. One of the things, certainly. Now he’s introducing something new and immensely beautiful. Well now. I, the older I get, cannot imagine something more precious, more inspiring and comforting than the knowledge that we are sons and daughters of God. And we know that because of the way the Spirit leads us to keep believing in Jesus. you may be an elderly person or a middle-aged person and may look back upon a life of faith. And do you realize when you do look back upon a life of faith, you’re looking back on a life that has been led by the Spirit, because only the Spirit is able to keep inspiring us and infusing us with faith. Faith is a miracle. It is God’s grace to us in this world. It is God’s gift of light in the darkness. It’s our candle that God has put in our hands so that we know the light in front of us. Jesus is the light. I am the light of the world, he said. No man or woman who walks with me shall walk in darkness, believes in me shall walk in darkness. And so, you see, we have a marvelous light. And so that light is telling us, you are a son and daughter of God. That is unique. I think it’s unique to the religions of the world. Other religions think of us as servants of God or creations of God, but sons and daughters that we are adopted. And this adoption is all through Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. Verse 15, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear. Now look, many Christians have come to Christ or have, let’s say it another way, many Christians have come to religion or come to Christianity because but without understanding the atoning work of Christ who has taken away the judgment for all their sins. And as a result of it, they have come to Christianity, but they are in bondage to fear. What is that fear that they have? It’s the fear of their own sinful nature, the fear that God will cut them off because they’re such sinners, the fear that they’re not perfect yet and therefore God is not pleased, the fear that they sometimes slip away and then haven’t the courage to come back yet unless they get a booster shot of some kind. It’s this fear that God… is that we are on tenterhooks with God, that things are very iffy with him, and he’s only a little bit away from dropping us into hell. This fear is a bondage, and perfectionists and legalists have it because the essence of legalism is obey and be saved. But what if we don’t effectively obey and are saved? Then we’re not saved, and therefore we are in bondage, constantly wondering whether God truly loves us or whether he’s a hair’s breadth of just casting us off. It’s a sad and terrible thing. But look at the positive here. You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear. Pagan religions are spirits of bondage to fear. Pagan religions present you with a narrow path to walk, and if you don’t walk it, you’ll slide off the edge into hell. And if you don’t walk it accurately, you may never get to the kingdom of heaven. There is this constant uncertainty and the carrot hanging ahead of you there that you must forever reach after but never attain. That is the religion of paganism. But we are not like that. We’re sons and daughters. We don’t live as servants anymore. Yes, in a certain sense we are servants, but that’s not the only definition that we are. We are sons and daughters of God. We live in the household. Do you remember that famous picture of John Kennedy’s JFK’s son crawling around under the table in the famous White House in the office of the president? How amazing that he could just wander around because he was a son. That’s why. And we wander around in the kingdom of God. We are fellow heirs with Christ. We are brought into God’s home in the Oval Office, this wonderful dome of grace in which we live, the home of God. And it’s all because God has loved us. and made us his sons. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption. We are adopted. We were originally created by God, all of us, but we got lost like sheep in the mountains who couldn’t find their way, who’d lost their shepherd. And many of us, well, all of us at one time or another were goats and simply had no desire for God at all. And God had to bring us into difficult straits in order for us to realize that we’re trapped unless we become one of his sheep. And so we were found by God. And this finding by God is spoken of here as adopting God. receiving into the family of God a child that seemed to be alien and foreign, but we are no longer aliens. We’re no longer foreigners. We’re God’s own children. Now, you see, your mind has to speak this into yourself. Faith speaks to the secular mind. Faith speaks to the unbelieving mind. You understand that the natural mind is an unbelieving mind, right? It cannot believe. It is doubtful. It is afraid. It has sin and guilt in it. And because of that, we are afraid that God will cast us off. There has to be a foreign element coming in, and there is. It is faith, the gift of faith given to us by the Holy Spirit. And what is that faith? That is faith to believe that Jesus, who walked this earth, a carpenter’s son, was actually the Son of God. He is the light. He came down from heaven as the bread. It was a simple and isolated event that seemed to be absurd in the larger picture, global picture of things. Yet God came to the world in the person of his Son, and then through the Holy Spirit spread that news throughout all the world, and he will do so yet further. Until the kingdom of God comes, and then in the judgment as well, the Son will appear like one slain, like a lamb slain on the throne to give the world courage in the light of the judgment that God has provided for them even then. This Son of God sacrificed for us like a lamb. So you see then, this adoption is magnificent. It is so magnificent, in fact, that it causes us to cry out, Abba, Father. Let’s read the verse again, verse 15 of chapter 8. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba, Father. And all of us know by now, don’t we, as Christians familiar with these teachings given to us from the pulpit and other places, that the word Abba here means Daddy, Daddy, Father. It’s the familiar term that children use to talk to their Daddy. They call out, Daddy. I remember the story of a pastor years ago who was doing a tour of Israel, and he was on a bus, and it was full, and people were standing in the aisles, and there was a father with his little boy, and the bus lurched, I think, over a rock or something, and it bumped about, and the child fell onto the floor of the bus, and he called out, Abba, Abba. And Daddy, of course, picked him up. And the pastor suddenly realized the intimacy and the reality of that term, Abba, that this little boy felt safe only when he could call out to his Daddy and lift up his arm, and his Daddy reached down and pulled his son up again. That is the relationship that you and I have with our Heavenly Father. He’s our Daddy. We call out to Him through His Son, Jesus, and we are lifted up and rescued. Thanks so much for joining me today. Colin Cook here and how it happens. And thanks for being patient and coming back to listen to the broadcast, which you can hear on the radio at 10 o’clock in the evening, repeated at four in the morning on KLTT AM 670 in the Denver and Colorado and surrounding states areas. So do listen in. But also you can hear the program. on your smartphone any time of the day or night. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or pudbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. And if you would care to make a donation, please do so. You can do so online at faithquestradio.com or send your donation to Faith Quest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. And thank you very much for all your support. Thank you for your little notes. When you send that support, I do appreciate it. Again, thanks so much. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
