“IF CHILDREN“
“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.”–Rom. 8:17
Since, Lord willing, I will be preaching a message entitled ‘From grief to glory” from this verse this morning, I encourage you to pay close attention to this article. Here Paul speaks about who we are and what we have in Christ. But before we talk about that we need to consider the little word “if”, it is of huge importance. The glorious truths of which he speaks all hinge upon us being “the children of God“(vs. 17). There will no glory unless God is our Father.
He doesn’t say, “If we are church members, Baptist, good neighbors, etc. He speaks of us being a child of God. The “if” comes before the “then“. Only “if” we are children of God are we “heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ”. The blessings follow the believing, by which we become the children of God ( Gal. 3:26). We must have faith in the Son before we are children in the family. Until we enter God’s family we have no hope of glory. As Paul said to the Colossians, it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory:” ( Col. 1:27).
Pretending you are a child of God isn’t good enough. Hoping you are a child of God won’t help. And making a wild guess at how we become children of God won’t save you. Whether or not you are a child of God is something you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt (1 John 5:13). It is something you will know because it is the result of believing. It is not a think so, hope so, maybe matter. If you truly believe you know it. Do you?
Knowing Christ as your Savior is not only the hope of glory, it opens the storehouse door to all we need while we groan with grief in this present wicked world. Were there no heaven or hell the Christian life would still be far better than anything else. It’s my prayer that you will avail yourself of this opportunity to become a child of God! — HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
