THE EVIDENCES OF SONSHIP

THE EVIDENCES OF SONSHIP

Sons of God are:

                    -Led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14). This is not the cause, but the evidence of our Sonship. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The Holy Spirit leads a man to let his spirit rule and the flesh to serve the leadership of his spirit. The RV has these verses translated correctly (vs. 9). “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit,” that is, your own spirit. If the Spirit of God dwells in a man that man is living on the spiritual side of his own nature, not on the fleshly side. I can live in the flesh or in the spirit. The difference between life high and noble and life low and ignoble is the difference between life in the spirit and life in the flesh. Life in the spirit means the spirit of man enthroned which has been made alive by the new birth. Then is the flesh bruised and battered? Certainly not! What, then? The flesh is in its proper place, properly nourished, and forever more the servant of the spirit and never the master of the man. That is true life. Man can live in the flesh, answering every cry of his mouth and every appeal of his eye, and every itch of his hand, and every passion of his dusty nature. Where in such life is the spirit? Imprisoned, choked, starved, neglected. Where am I?

                    -Separated from the world (2 Cor. 6:14-18) "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" "And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," "And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

           -Live the overcoming life (Rev. 21:7; 1 John 4:4) "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

                    -Subject to the Father's chastening (Heb. 12:6-8) "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" "But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."  This word for discipline signifies training by discipline and therefore may include punishment, but always in a remedial sense.Whereas our Lord made one oblation for sin, His redeemed are still under the discipline of His love, and it is to that discipline that the writer of Hebrews is referring.

            -Bear the likeness of their Father (Matt. 5:9) "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." The peacemakers. This is the reproductive character, the man who being all the rest, therefore brings peace wherever he comes. And the great word concerning these peacemakers is, "They shall be called the sons of God," for in that they manifest the nature of the Father and the likeness of the Father more than anything else--making peace among the sons of men. Peacemaking indicates the effects upon others. The Devil is not a peacemaker.