"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God..." (Romans 8:16,17)

Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God (Rom.8:14) Those who are open to the Spirit of Christ, and receive him into their hearts, become children of God, and heirs of God. Remember what John says about the coming of Jesus into this world from eternity. "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:10-13) All who receive Christ into their lives and believe in him as their Savior and Lord, are given the power, the right, the authority, to regard themselves as children of God.

Therefore, we are not to be strangers to God, alienated from God, enemies of God, but his beloved children. "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens, with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." (Ephesians 2:19,20) We are not guests in God's house, but family. We live with God, eat at his Table, and learn at his feet, by listening to his Word. God's house is our home.

But we are more than just any children of God. We are also heirs of God. God has a great inheritance in store for us. He mentions our inheritance because we need encouragement in this life. In this life we share in the sufferings of Christ. We can be tempted to believe that God does not love us. But we are assured that we share in the sufferings of Christ in order that we may share in his glory. That glory is in the future. It is not in this life. "In this world," said Jesus, "you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

There is a tendency in some Christian circles to promise more for this life than is warranted by the Scriptures. Some preachers and teachers give the impression that if you receive Jesus and walk faithfully in his Way that you will find all your problems solved in this life. This was not true for Jesus or his apostles. They suffered and died. They were persecuted and executed. Christianity is not a panacea for this world's ills. But the Gospel gives you the comfort and strength to endure suffering. It gives you real hope for the future. The inheritance of God is a promise to be fulfilled. The "present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18) The inheritance is guaranteed by the Spirit. It is gold-plated and secure.

This divine inheritance is the theme of the Bible from the beginning. The promise of a great inheritance was first made to Abraham and his descendants. "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.. And they admitted that they were strangers and aliens on earth....they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one." (Hebrews 11:13-16) God's people were looking for the fulfillment of the promised inheritance. Things went wrong for them, they suffered greatly, but they never lost hope, because of the promise of the coming Messiah who would bring deliverance.

We are God's people, God's children, God's heirs, who have hope in God fulfilling his purposes and promises. God has a plan, not only for this world, for this mortal life, but also for eternity, for a new heaven and a new earth. We are part of that plan for the future.

What would it be like to live in this world, with all its suffering, with all the troubles people have to endure, and not to have hope, to feel that there is nothing to look forward to? That is the condition of many people. They have lost hope, and they despair of ever achieving any happiness. That is why the Gospel is so important. That is why God commissions us to share his Good News with others. That is why what we do here on Sunday is so essential. That is why our personal witness to the promises of God may be the only way others may hear of them.

What is the divine inheritance we may look forward to? Jesus describes a picture of the Son of Man coming at the end of the age and sitting upon the throne of his glory: "All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.'" (Matthew 25:31-34)

That is the promise. That is what we can look forward to: 'the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.' That is the same way it is described by the Lord to Saul of Tarsus when he was converted on the road to Damascus and commissioned to preach the Gospel. "I am going to send you to the Gentiles to open their eyes to their true condition so that they may repent and live in the light of God instead of in Satan's darkness, so that they may receive forgiveness for their sins and God's inheritance along with all people everywhere whose sins are cleansed away, who are set apart by faith in me." (Acts 26:17,18 LB) When Paul prays in Ephesians he prays that "the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints." (1:18)

The New Testament does not concentrate on this life and this world, but on that which is to come. Believers in Christ are described as heirs of salvation. Peter tells us that we have been given a "new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for you." (1 Peter 1:3,4)

This hope of God's inheritance is the great promise of the Scriptures from the beginning to the end. It is the hallmark of the Christian, that we keep our eyes upon our inheritance as children of God. This is our birthright, our destiny.

Is this your habitual way of thinking of yourself? Do you live rejoicing day by day in the fact that you are a child of God, and because a child, then an heir? What is your heart set upon: the things of this world, or the things of the world to come? This present world passes away. What we take with us is only what God gives us to inherit - his kingdom. Therefore we should seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. We should discover in this life all that we can about the kingdom of God which we will inherit. We can look forward, and wait, and be comforted and encouraged by this hope, of the great inheritance which will one day be ours to enjoy.

(Includes some material from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: The Sons of God)