Sons of The Living God
A Sermon on Romans 8:14
Originally preached Oct. 7, 1960
Scripture
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Sermon Description
Does the Christian ever long for Heaven? How often do they think of glorification? Christians often discuss sanctification and do not realize that it is only a part of the process for the end goal of glorification. Glorification can be understood because of the assurance in Christ Jesus. In this sermon on Romans 8:14 titled “Sons of the Living God,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says the theme of Romans 8 is not sanctification, but rather the assurance of a Christian’s salvation. It is the absolute security of the final perseverance of all who have been justified by Jesus Christ. As Paul works through this chapter to Romans, he has been outlining several reasons for this assurance. In Romans 8:14, he come to the assurance in terms of sonship with God, which Dr. Lloyd-Jones argues is also the theme of the whole of Scripture. Because glorification is the final goal for all Christians, God would never allow something to prohibit His people from getting there. Dr. Lloyd-Jones discusses four points: not all are children of God, Christians are children of God, what this sonship means, and the consequences of this sonship. He leaves the listener with an encouraging message: because Christians are sons and daughters of God, they can look out into this world and never experience despair or panic because they belong to the family of God.
Sermon Breakdown
- The theme of Romans 8 is the security and assurance of the believer. Paul aims to show how believers can rejoice in the hope of glory.
- Paul begins by showing how believers are freed from the law and united to Christ by the Spirit (vv. 2-4).
- He then shows how the indwelling Spirit sanctifies and assures believers of their glorification (vv. 5-11).
- Paul exhorts believers not to live according to the flesh but to mortify the deeds of the body by the Spirit (vv. 12-13).
- Not all people are sons of God, only those led by the Spirit (v. 14). This contradicts the teaching of universal salvation and universal fatherhood of God.
- Christians alone are the sons of God (v. 14). The terms "sons" and "children" are used interchangeably here.
- No one is by nature a child of God. We are children of Adam and wrath. Only Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
- We become sons of God through adoption, a legal act of God by which He takes us into His family. This gives assurance of our glorification.
- Christians also undergo a change of nature through the new birth and are made partakers of the divine nature and the life of God in the soul.
- We should think of ourselves as sons of God no matter our circumstances. This gives victory over despair and fear.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.