The Children of God

Romans 8:12-17 NKJV

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13For 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. 14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ 16The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Feel Good Messages

There are a massive amount of people out there saying what so many people want to hear, to make them feel good about themselves, and to make them happy. Feel good messages are just about everywhere you look these days. And so many people are being taught to avoid all messages which sound negative. Most everything, it seems, is being plugged in such a way so as to be positive, upbeat, cheerful, and acceptable to human ears, when it comes to the subject of Christianity and the gospel of our salvation. 

Therefore, many pastor/preachers are diluting and altering the gospel of Christ to make it more pleasing to human ears, and less offensive to the ungodly (which includes many who profess faith in Jesus Christ). They are deliberately feeding people lies to make them feel good knowing that they are lying to them because they want to grow their numbers. They want to do what will draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings, so they compromise with the world to win the world to their gatherings.

So, although many of them present what they are doing as something good for the people, out of the goodness of their hearts, because they want them to feel good, much of this is motivated by marketing schemes and tricks which teach them what they need to do if they want to grow the size of their audience (what it really is). So much of what is called “the church” is not the biblical body of Christ following the teachings of Jesus Christ, but they are businesses being marketed to the world, in order to get more people.

Through the Spirit

But the Good News taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles is not all about making everyone feel good emotionally and therefore avoiding the hard truths which so many do not want to hear. For the hard truths must come first for any of the good stuff to exist. First we must learn that Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross to put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded faith in him, we might deny self, die to sin, and obey God in practice, which we must then do, and then the good stuff comes.

And that is what Paul is talking about here, which he also talked about in chapters 1,2,5&6, at least. For if we do not listen to, and if we refuse to hear the hard truths of the Scriptures, then we cannot be genuinely saved from our sins and thus have the hope of eternal life with God. For we are not to live according to the flesh (the carnal nature), to please the flesh. For if we live according to the flesh, we will die. We will not have salvation from sin, and we will not have eternal life with God. Hard truth! But necessary!!

So, this is what we need to get here. If we avoid the hard truths of the Scriptures in favor of the feel good stuff, we may indeed feel good in our emotions, but we won’t feel good when we have to stand before our Lord in judgement and he says, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” So it is loving and kind to speak the hard truths to let you know that if you live according to the flesh, you don’t have eternal life. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, then you will live.

Suffering with Christ

And then please note what it says next. We are children of God, not only via dying with him to sin and walking in obedience to his commands, by the Spirit, but we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him. And this isn’t the only place this is being taught. Being a Christian is not just about “getting saved” so when you die you get to go to heaven. It means self-denial, death to sin, and obeying our Lord and his commands in practice. And it means living for him, and doing his will, day by day.

And it means following Jesus Christ wherever he leads us in doing all he commands that we must do, as his followers. It means answering his call upon our lives in doing what he has called us to do in our spiritual “body part” assignments, assigned to us by God. It means us ministering to one another within the body of Christ (the church) in encouraging and in instructing one another in the things of God, and in us warning one another against falling back into sin. For the body grows as each part does its work.

And if we are truly following the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands, in doing his will, and in ministering to one another within the body of Christ, and in us going out to the people of the world and sharing with them the truth of the gospel of our salvation, we will suffer for the sake of righteousness. We will be hated, discarded, mocked, falsely accused, persecuted, rejected, and abandoned even by others who call themselves Christians, and even by pastors and elders in worldly “church” gatherings.

The Truth

So, be students of the Scriptures. Know what they teach. Don’t go seeking after all the “feel good” stuff, but seek after Christ and his righteousness and holiness. Submit to him and obey him, and follow him wherever he leads you, and then you will know true joy. It may not be all the emotional stuff, but it will be an inward peace of heart and mind in knowing that you are in the will of God, doing what he says, and living the life he has for you to live with purpose, and all for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22] 

Only in Him  

Based off Isaiah 30

An Original Work / February 19, 2014

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love 

Woe to those who look to man’s help;

Who turn away from Jesus Christ;

Forming an alliance not in step with God;

Making their own plans, and praying not.

Willing not to listen to truth,

They close their ears to what is right.

Pleasing words are all that they’ll hear;

Feel good messages that bring cheer.

Trust in your Lord; turn from your sin.

Put your faith now ONLY IN HIM.

Do not turn to idols. They’ll not satisfy.

Jesus will save you. That’s why He died.

Your Lord will be gracious to you.

He cares all about you, ‘tis true.

He forgives you all of your sin

When you give your life up to Him.

Oh, how truly gracious He’ll be

When you bow to Him on your knees;

Turning now from your sin; walking in his ways.

He’ll lead and guide you all of your days.

Now you will sing praises to Him.

He delivered you from your sin.

You’ll tell others now of His grace,

So they may see Christ face-to-face. 

https://vimeo.com/87181019

The Children of God

An Original Work / June 5, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love