But don’t those words which I did not read cast a pall on the beauty of the words which I did read? “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.” Does the reference to “suffering with Christ” add to, diminish, negate or alter the fact that we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ? Does our suffering add to, diminish, negate or alter the glories of eternity with Christ?
That sermon didn’t deal with that last point, but I intend to start to do that this morning and to finish this afternoon. But first pardon me for reaching back.
Paul ties together that glorious future life and those whom he calls “heirs” and “joint-heirs with Christ.” An “heir” is a person who is entitled to an inheritance. But the entitlement to God’s great inheritance, it must be remembered, is entirely because of grace. Paul seems to delight in the term “heir” because an inheritance, once it is settled and given, is more legally secure than any other kind of gift and most kinds of purchases.
That God’s people are “heirs,” and that they are included in God’s “will,” is a common theme in the Bible. “If ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. “Not by works of righteousness which we done, but by his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” There are even angels sent forth to minister to them who are the “heirs of salvation.” I don’t know how many of you have ever received an earthly inheritance, but if you are a child of God, whatever you have received is nothing compared to what you shall receive. Listen to Hebrews 6 – “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the HEIRS of promise the IMMUTABILITY of his counsel, confirmed it by an OATH: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which HOPE we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfas.”
Thousands of wealthy people have died over the years. And thousands of their heirs have been made more wealthy than they had been before. But their earthly inheritances were like grains of sand compared to that which is given by Jehovah.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, there are four requirements involved in receiving this inheritance from the Lord.
In John 14 the Lord Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Christ Jesus was talking about a part of this inheritance. And to whom was the Lord speaking? Who were the heirs? It was a very small group of people who were disciples, students, followers and friends of Christ. They were a bunch of sinners – and yet every one of them had repented of his sin before God. It might be more accurate to say that they had been open, rebellious sinners. But they had been changed by the grace of God – they had been regenerated – born again.
When John 14:3 is fulfilled and Christ returns, it will only be for those who are named in the Father’s will. Those people shall receive eternal life, eternal comfort, and new, spiritual, glorified bodies. They will be given crowns, thrones, glory and special responsibilities under the dominion of the Lord. Nothing on earth can compare with what the Lord has willed to His people. “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Most of God’s inheritance is as yet unknown, because it is indescribable to our sin-corrupted minds. But undoubtedly it will be absolutely fantastic.
Whatever it will entail, it can only be received as an inheritance by someone who is a child of God. And sadly, the abounding majority of the people in the world today are NOT children of God. They don’t bear the family resemblance; they don’t act like they are children of Heaven. They certainly don’t worship our Heavenly Father, and they don’t live by the laws of Heaven. You will not hear them say “our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” These people have no part in God’s inheritance, because they not a part of the Lord’s family. In the case of the Lord’s inheritance – it will be given to no-one but those who are children of God. And there is no sonship without a spiritual birth and adoption into the family of God.
How did you become a child of your parents? You were either born or adopted into that family. The Bible uses these same two words in talking about God’s family. Probably both of them are nothing more than allegories about something which human words are incapable of accurately describing, but they come close enough to be useful.
In the absence of spiritual life, or perhaps because of spiritual death, there is necessity of a spiritual birth. So when the Nicodemus ask the Lord Jesus for a message from God, the Saviour merely replied, “Ye must be born” – you must be born again spiritually. Peter and John repeated this phrase of the Lord. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” Paul didn’t speak of being “born” or “born again,” but he spoke about “regeneration” – the same thing. And he talked about being “quickened” – made alive. Only those who have been quickened and born into the family of God can expect to receive the inheritance of God.
But as we pointed out a couple weeks ago there is another term to be applied – “ADOPTION.” Since in a sense we were a part of the family of our first father, Satan, we must be adopted by God. Galatians 4 – “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Who is more a son of his father, the child that is born into that family or the one who is adopted? I suppose that depending on your point of view, either child might claim to have the closer relationship. One might say that his parents conceived him, and that they have loved him from that very moment. But the other could reply that his parents made a deliberate choice to love him despite seeing how ugly he is and knowing every weakness in his character. Spiritually both actions apply. The saint of God has been born again and deliberately chosen and adopted into the family of God.
And those who have not been born again, have no right to think about an inheritance from the Lord. Those who have not been chosen, loved and legally brought into the family of Jehovah have no access to His inheritance. And the number of those children born again and adopted is relatively small.
My third point was that there can be no adoption or spiritual birth without Christ. And in this we leave the earthly illustration and move into something entirely spiritual and Heavenly. The Gospel of John puts it this way, “As many as received [Christ] to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” Among other things, this verse teaches that it is impossible for a person to become a child of God but through Christ Jesus. No one is made a son or daughter of God by joining this church, that church or any other church. They are not children of God because they are children of Christian parents. It isn’t logical to think that someone becomes a child by being sprinkled with holy tap water or dunked in a river of fish water. No one is made a child by being good, godly, gracious, glamorous or gorgeous. It is silly to think that I became a member of the Oldfield family because I was good little boy. I didn’t join anything, pay any money, or dance little jig to become an Oldfield. I became a member of that family by being born into that family, September 28, 1949 – 59 years ago. And it is just as silly to think that we become children of God by doing something, going somewhere or joining something. It is all of God.
Specifically, a person can become a son of God only through Jesus Christ – the Saviour. The Bible says that Jesus Himself is the “only begotten Son of God.” But, He died on Calvary that sinful sons of Satan, like us, might join Him in His Sonship. It was there at Calvary that Christ paid the penalty for our sin – making the new birth and adoption possible. There can be no spiritual birth and no inheritance without a proper relationship to Jesus Christ.
My last point in that original was that Christ will never have anything to do with you without your repentance of sin and faith in Him. Please listen to John 1:11-13 once again – “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 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: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” There are millions people who believe that there was an historical person named Jesus. And there hundreds of thousands who believe that Jesus died for sin – But these things aren’t saving faith. The Bible teaches that unless Christ Jesus died for your sins specifically, then the penalty for your sin is still in force. The sinner receives Christ when through grace he comes to understand that Christ died specifically for his sins while on that cross. So He bore my sin, felt my pain, endured my punishment, that I might be given His life. Christ is received by faith, when a fully repentant, sinful heart bows before the cross of Christ, trusting what Jesus accomplished there to cleanse him from his sin.
So with true faith and repentance a person “receives Christ.” And with the reception of Christ comes spiritual birth. With spiritual birth and adoption a sinner enters the family of God. And being a part of God’s family makes him an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ. It all comes about through the grace of Almighty God. Praise His Holy Name!
Now moving past that earlier message…
Last week one of the men came to me and pointed out that when I quoted Romans 8:17 I didn’t finish it. And that was absolutely true, because the reference to suffering was not a part of my theme at the time. He went on to say that he heard a preacher recently who said some very interesting things about this verse, and he was anxiously awaiting for what I had to say about it. Then he described to me, what I think is the sort of thing that I just mentioned. It forced me to do some study, looking up a related verses, and encouraging me to reexamine my position. It also took me to some those two dozen commentaries on Romans to which I have referred before.
If I understood correctly, that innovative preacher’s bold new premise was this: There is a difference between being an “heir of God” and being a “joint-heir with Christ.” All the children of the Lord are heirs of God. But only those who suffer with the Saviour, are joint-heirs with Christ. And he probably added that very few Christians really suffer with Christ. I don’t know for sure, but if that preacher believes in the translation of the saints at all, I wouldn’t be surprised if he holds to a split-rapture opinion – that only the most dedicated servants – only the truly suffering saints – will be taken and glorified when the Lord first returns.
How are we to understand the last part of this scripture? First, the words “heir” and “joint-heir” are closely related. “Joint-heir” simply means a “fellow-heir” along with the Lord Jesus Christ. Within the mysteries of the Trinity, the Son of God is the only true heir of God the Father. Somehow, and for some reason, to Christ Jesus the Father has given absolutely everything. Out of many verses, I’ll just point you to Hebrews 1:2 – “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things…” When Christ, out of pure grace chooses to “share” His inheritance with redeemed and justified sinners, that is when we become “heirs of God.” And in that sense, we are ALL fellow-heirs, or “joint-heirs with Christ.” Out of all my scripture-reading; out of all my commentaries; out of all that I can remember of 40-plus years of hearing the Bible taught, I have never found anyone who separated “heirs of God” from “joint-heirs with Christ.” I fear that comments like this find their source only in the pride of the preacher who utters them. Innovative ideas of Bible interpretation for the sake of innovation alone, should be shunned and feared.
I have found, however, major differences of opinion about the relationship of suffering and heirship. Some, ie., say that if a professing Christian doesn’t suffer for the Lord, then he is not a true Christian. And so these people do their best to urge their hearers to make the world hate them. They encourage them to become Bible thumpers, scripture quoters and sermon preachers – none of which are necessarily bad things in themselves. But in the process, they are encouraged to give the appearance of superiority over everyone else. And this tends to spiritual pride and arrogance. Rather than an imitation of the Lord’s meekness, civility and charitability, these folk are encouraged to be spiritual bulls in the worldly china closet. And if we can’t make the world hate us, then it’s proof that we aren’t joint-heirs with Christ. Some will even go so far as to imply that our heirship is dependent upon our suffering. But grace is as much a part of the Lord’s inheritance as any other aspect of salvation. The inheritance isn’t dependent upon us, our persecution, or the hatred of the world and the Devil against us.
Another common interpretation of the suffering in this verse – is actually all about Jesus’ sufferings. Some theologians point out that since Christ suffered and died for the salvation of the believer, then Paul is talking here about our union with Christ in His blood and His pain. There is a sense in which this is absolutely true. Christ Jesus’ death on the cross, was vicarious – it was substitutionary – it was for each and every sinner whom He chose to save. In other words, when Jesus died it was for me, and there is a sense in which I died when Christ died. And when those nails went rasping through His hands, that pain was felt for me – it was my pain. Every aspect of Jesus’ suffering was for me, and without that suffering, that blood and that death I could never have a part in Jesus’ inheritance.
Although that is true, I don’t think that was to what Paul was referring. He was talking about our suffering as we live the Christian life, finishing our course in this world. The first verse that came to my mind in regard to this thought was in Paul’s discussion with Timothy. “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” When I looked up II Timothy 3:12 in “Naves Topical Bible,” I was given more than a hundred scriptures which teach essentially the same thing. Every true child of God will be more or less hated for his testimony of Christ. He will be spurned for believing in Divine Creation, and for saying that his neighbors are hell-bound sinners. He will be laughed at for his worship of Christ and that he rejects the world’s kind of recreation and entertainment. He will be mocked for expecting the soon return of the Lord and for his heavenly citizenship. He will be despised for pointing out that abortion is murder, and homosexuality is an abomination. This is not to say that every Christian will be burned at the stake or drowned in the river. Peter and Paul may have been violently martyred, but John the Apostle lived to a very old age. And yet they all suffered for being children of God. And being children of God, they received the Lord’s inheritance.
That inheritance, the inheritance of Christ Himself, is promised to every believer, every Christian, every child of God. And the “sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). And “our light affliction which is but for a moment, (even) worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Corinthians 4:17).
But the important question is not about the inheritance – it is about you. Are you a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus? Forget about what you suffering, how much you suffer and whether it is with Christ or for Christ. The first question ought to be: are you living in repentance before God and in faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been born again into the family of God? Make certain by thoroughly bowing before the Lord this morning.