The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

TO BE A CHILD OF GOD (Romans 8:15-22)

When I think of the dreams of a child that lives in an orphanage, I think of the loneliness they must feel because they are alone in this world without parents to care for them.  They don’t understand why they don’t have parents.  They just know that they are different from other kids.  They see other children with their families and they want to be like them.  They want what they have.  They want a close personal relationship with their parents.  They want to be able to call someone Daddy, or Father.   They want to feel secure in the arms of a father who will protect them and love them.  They want to feel confident as they face the world because they have parents who will support them.

These same feelings exist within many people who are not a born again, regenerated, adopted child of God.  They look at a true Christian and they notice a difference in them.  They don’t know what it is, but they see the Christian handle the problems and trials in their lives in a more confident way.  So the non-believer will ask the Christian how they can face trouble with more confidence, and their reply is that it’s because they are a member of the family of God.  They have a close personal relationship with God.  They have the authority to call our heavenly Father, Abba, Father.  The word Abba is an Aramaic word that is the equivalent of the English word Daddy, or Papa.  It speaks of the close emotional relationship that a believer has with God.  They know that God loves them and will provide for them.  They feel secure in the arms of the almighty God.  This is their confidence.  This is how they face adversity in their lives.  

If you are looking for a close personal relationship with God, then listen to this podcast to learn what it means to be a true child of God.

TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD (Romans 8:9-14)

Are you a born again, regenerated, adopted child of God?

Romans 8:9

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if 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.

KJV

That is the real test.  Paul states very clearly if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.  The true mark of a born again believer and a genuine Christian is that he is indwelt by the Spirit of God.  A believer is a new creation.  Paul is telling us that if you are truly saved you will answer yes to these questions.  Do you love God?  Do you want to serve Him?  Are these things uppermost in your mind and heart?  

If you are a true believer then you will have the indwelling Spirit of God empowering you to want the things of God. A believer has been granted a new law which liberates him from sin. He has been granted a new Lord who is none other than the third Person of the Triune Godhead.

It is a basic truth of the gospel that a person must be born again before he can be viewed as a child of God.  

John 1:11-13

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

KJV

Paul tells us that it is the Holy Spirit that places the believer as an adult son, with all of the privileges of an adult son, into the family of God.  

Romans 8:14

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

KJV

One evidence of the believer’s sonship in the divine family of God is the cooperation of the believer with the guiding and leading ministry of the Spirit of God.  Those that are led by God’s Spirit are the sons of God.  The phrase, sons of God, appears in the New Testament as a name for people who are in a covenant relationship with God.  The process is described as one of adoption, by which the believer becomes a child of God, and thus an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ.  Listen to this podcast to learn what it means to know that you are a child of God.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER (Romans 8:5-9)

How do you know, that you know, that you are a born again, regenerated, adopted child of God?

You went down at the time of the invitation and you said the prayers the preacher asked you to say.  The preacher told you that you were saved, yet sin still plaques you.  You try as hard as you can to do what you think God wants you to do, yet your desires to do the things of this world are still there in your body.  So are you really saved?  Are you really born again?  How do you know? 

First, to be saved there must be more than just mumbling a few prayers at the direction of the preacher.  Accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord requires more than a mere mental prayer, there must be a true desire in your heart to turn away from the sin that is in your life and turn towards Jesus Christ.

There must be a change in your heart.  You are walking down the path of the world, Satan is your master.  In order to be saved from an eternity in hell, you must stop, turn around, and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and begin to follow Him.  The Bible doesn’t say make Jesus your Savior, although He becomes that, it says make Jesus Christ your Lord.  This is what it takes to become a born again, regenerated, adopted child of God.  But how do you know if you have done this?

First and foremost, you know that you are saved because the Word of God tells you it is so.  It is not about signs, or feelings.  You know that you are saved because God tells you that you are in His Word.

John 5:24

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

KJV

This verse, and many others with the same message, are your rock solid birth certificate as a born again Christian.  Your knowledge that you have been saved comes from the very Word of God.  

The second answer is what our lesson is about today.  You know that you are saved because the Holy Spirit has made known to you that He is indwelling in your heart.  How do you know this?  Listen to this podcast and find out.  

THE GREATEST POWER OF ALL (Romans 8:1-4)

When you look at the world around us, what would you say is the greatest untapped source of power in the entire world?

Is it nuclear?  Is it hydrogen with all of the water on the earth? 

For the vast majority of believers and non-believers alike, the Holy Spirit of God is without question the greatest untapped source of power in the world. 

For the non-believer, or the lost person, the Holy Spirit is outside of their ability to tap for power.  The one role of the Holy Spirit with the lost person is to convict them of their need for a Savior.  The lost person cannot turn to the Holy Spirit for power.  You must be a born again child of God to have this power.

For the believer, the Holy Spirit is indwelling in their heart, waiting on the believer to turn to Him for power.  The sad fact is that most Christians do not know how to, or simply choose not to, tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to live a victorious Christian life.  We find that joy and peace are to be given to the child of God in this life.  We are to live for God in the very presence of sin.  Sin is not to dictate our life’s program.  

Paul has already shown us that there is nothing in the justified sinner that can produce this ideal state.  We have seen that even though we have a new nature, that new nature has no power of its own to do the things of God, and our old nature has no good in it at all.  We simply cannot live for God under our own efforts.  

The obvious question is then how is a child of God to live for God? 

Paul cried out for someone’s help, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24).  In other words, who is going to enable me to live for God?

Paul concluded chapter 7 by saying, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” 

Now chapter 8 will give us the modus operandi; that is, the means by which the victory for the Christian is secured.  Listen to this podcast as we begin a series of lessons on the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

THE ROLE OF GOD'S LAW IN OUR LIVES (Romans 7:1-9)

What is the role of God’s Law in our lives?

Is it to establish the absolute truth about what the Creator of all things, including man, declares as right and wrong?

Is it to define the punishment for violating God’s Law?

Is it to define sin in the eyes of God so that man can know that he has missed the mark of the holiness and glory of God?

Is it a tool to reveal the sin in your life?

The answer is yes to all of these, but the most important role of God’s Law in our lives is to bring us to an awareness of our need for a Savior.  That Savior is Jesus Christ.  The Law says that all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God and the penalty for that sin is death and eternal separation from God.  The Law says that we are hopelessly lost and doomed forever.  Yet God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 

The role of God’s Law in the life of a non-believer is to bring them to Jesus Christ for salvation from the condemnation of the Law.

Listen to this podcast to find out that the role of God’s Law in the life of a believer is to demonstrate the wonderful love of God for a sinful man.  As a believer you no longer need to fear the power of the Law.  As a believer you no longer need to be dismayed by your inability to meet the perfect standards of the Law.  When Jesus Christ died on the cross He broke the power of the Law over the believer.  He paid your penalty.  He satisfied all of the demands of the Law so that you are now free from the Law.  He died and rose again so that you might have eternal life.

THE FREE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE (Romans 6:19-23)

Romans 6:23

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

KJV

This is one of the verses of the Roman Road to salvation.  It is familiar to anyone who has led someone else to the Lord, for it is in this verse that Paul summarizes the contrast between the ultimate goal of the lost person and that of the believer.

Paul says For the wages of sin is death:  A wage is the pay distributed by a paymaster, and the paymaster, which in this case is God, only pays for what you have earned.  A lost person believes that they can earn God’s wages.  Paul says that if you want to be paid by God, then He will only pay you for what you have earned by your sin.

What is the proper wage for sin, death.  If you demand payment from God for what you deserve, then the wages of your sin is death. 

But the Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  For a life of sin, God will deliver payment for the wages earned.  But for those who believe in Christ, God gives a gift that is not deserved.  It is not earned.  It is a gift of God.

The word gift carries the force of a free gift.  The free gift of God compared against the earned wages of sin.  

Listen to this podcast to learn that God’s gift of eternal life is a life of the highest quality.  It is a life that endures throughout all ages. 

USING GOD'S POWER TO DEFEAT SIN

In a break from our traditional Bible study lesson, here are three scenarios that will help you understand how the believer is dead to the power of sin in their lives.  If you can apply these concepts in your life, then the Holy Spirit can give you victory over any sin.  There is no sin too big for God to remove from your life.

CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE (Romans 6:14-18)

Certainly, one of the most frustrating parts of living the victorious Christian life is the sin that keeps showing up in our lives.  Whether it is the occasional sin, or one that has built a stronghold in our lives that we just cannot seem to get rid of, sin keeps showing up in our lives.  Why does it keep happening?  We know we shouldn't do it, but we do it anyway.  Why?  Is there any hope for us to stop?

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you have only one choice, come and make Jesus Christ your Lord and Master.  That is the only way.  You cannot defeat sin on your own.  You are a slave to sin and it is only the saving work of Jesus Christ that can provide for your freedom from the dominion of sin over you.

If you are a believer, then God’s Word says that you are dead to sin, that you are free from the dominion of sin over you, and so you must choose you this day whom you will serve, either God or sin.  God has declared that sin shall not have dominion over the life of the believer.  There is no sin in your life that God cannot break the power of, if you choose to turn it over to God.  But you must believe that God can do what He says in His Word and you must really want Him to break that sin.  It is not a matter of how hard you try to stop that sin, for you cannot do it on your own.  It is a matter of how obedient you want to be to God as your Master.  

Listen to this podcast to learn how you can choose God as your Master and become free from any sin in your life.  God wants to work in your life.  The question is do you really want Him to?

HOW TO HAVE VICTORY BY SURRENDER (Romans 6:10-13)

To claim victory by surrendering appears to be an oxymoron.  How can anyone be victorious when they surrender to the will of another?  Someone once said, to the victor goes the spoils.  Yet, to be a victorious Christian, to live the life that God wants, we must surrender our will to that of Christ. The source of our power to be victorious over sin, Satan, and the things of this world, descends from Jesus Christ who has been placed above all things. 

We do not have to possess physical, intellectual, financial, or political strength to overcome Satan.  When you are willing to be to Jesus what Jesus was in His humanity to the Father, then Jesus will be to your humanity what the Father was to Him.  

When you fully surrender your life to Jesus, His Spirit will empower you to become victorious over sin.  Whatever sin that you have in your life, when you surrender it to Christ, Satan no longer has control over that portion of your life. 

Living victoriously isn’t your responsibility, it is your response to God’s ability. We are conquerors through Christ. In our lesson today, Paul is telling us that in order to be victorious over sin:

We must know that we are dead to sin.  Sin no longer has dominion over us.

We must reckon that knowledge in our lives.  Christ has more than adequately provided for the sin in our lives, therefore, we must reckon this in the way that we live.  

And then, we must yield our bodies, our minds, and our spirits, totally to the will of God.  We must totally surrender our will to the will of God.

Victory over sin and death is yours through Christ.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT SIN? (Romans 6:6-10)

What value is a promise made to you if you do not believe it and appropriate it in your life?

God has said in His Word that believers have victory over sin and death.  This is God’s promise.  But what good is that promise if we do not believe it and appropriate it in our lives?

The problem is that many of us do not feel like we have died to sin.  Sin is still a problem in our lives.  We are still allowing sin to dominate our lives.  We feel like we are alive to sin.

How we feel is important to us, for it can make a real difference in our performance.  For example, God has given me the task of speaking in front of various groups of people, on both secular and Biblical issues.  When I feel confident about the subject I am going to be speaking about, I perform better, I am more relaxed, I am not worried about making a fool out of myself.  My voice projects, it is stronger, and my whole attitude is one of confidence in what I am speaking about.  In other words, I am victorious in performing the tasks that God has given me.  

However, if I were to get up and speak on something that I know nothing about, and that I have had no time to prepare my thoughts, then I would feel nervous, my words would be halting, and the word “UH” would be repeated over and over.  When I feel less confident, then I am likely to fail in the tasks that God has given me.  My feelings impact how I conduct myself.  

Now somebody might say, Well the Bible says that if God asks you to do something, He will empower you to do it. 

And I would say precisely.  I am allowing my feelings to impact my performance in my obedience to God.  God tells me in His Word that He will provide, but when I allow my feelings to guide me, I am saying that I don’t believe God.  

The same thing applies to how we deal with sin.  If we are confident in our knowledge of the Word of God, then we are victorious in dealing with sin.  Paul has said that we are dead to sin, and that we are to be totally unresponsive to it, but how can we do that?

By putting our feelings aside, and believing what God tells us and applying it in our lives.  This is what our lesson is about today.  Knowing that not only have we died to sin, but that we have also been raised to walk in the newness of life, victorious over sin and death.