Am I Saved?

00:00:00.000 | A podcast listener named Ty writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, what does it mean for

00:00:09.160 | the Spirit to bear witness that we are children of God?" in Romans 8 16.

00:00:15.320 | This is enormously important because what I have found over the years is that right

00:00:22.880 | up there with fear and lust and anger, Christians everywhere at some time, all of us, deal with

00:00:35.080 | the problem of assurance, the assurance of salvation.

00:00:39.080 | Am I really a Christian?

00:00:42.000 | Every Christian deals with this at some point, and some Christians all the time.

00:00:48.760 | And so I really would like to help here if I can.

00:00:53.440 | So this person is thinking about Romans 8 14 to 16.

00:00:57.600 | So let me read the verses because the verses themselves provide the clue to what is being

00:01:03.280 | meant here.

00:01:05.400 | This is verse 14 Romans 8.

00:01:07.080 | "All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God."

00:01:11.280 | So led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

00:01:14.840 | A clue that you're the son of God is that you're being led by the Spirit.

00:01:17.920 | Verse 15, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you

00:01:23.840 | have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"

00:01:33.120 | A very intimate, warm, personal, affectionate cry to God as our Father.

00:01:40.600 | The Spirit is witnessing.

00:01:44.600 | Verse 16, "The Spirit himself bears witness, is witnessing in that cry, 'Abba, Father,'

00:01:49.880 | with our spirit that we are the children of God."

00:01:54.760 | So here's the first thing I would say.

00:01:56.960 | The witness of the Holy Spirit that you are a child of God is not a word whispered in

00:02:03.280 | your ear.

00:02:04.280 | "You're my child."

00:02:06.080 | That's not the way he does it.

00:02:08.120 | That's external, and the devil could do that to an unbeliever.

00:02:12.600 | And I don't doubt that the devil does whisper that in people's ears, because it says at

00:02:17.360 | the end of the day, there are going to be people who think they've called Jesus Lord,

00:02:21.760 | and they really haven't.

00:02:24.700 | What it means is two things, and these are in the text.

00:02:27.560 | It is the work of the Spirit.

00:02:30.660 | So the witness of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit giving evidences in our lives that

00:02:37.880 | we are the sons of God.

00:02:39.480 | Now get that from verse 14, "All who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God."

00:02:45.680 | So the work of the Spirit leading us is the Spirit witnessing in our lives that we are

00:02:56.480 | God's.

00:02:58.040 | His work provides evidences, and that's what witnesses do.

00:03:01.440 | They give evidences of reality.

00:03:05.380 | So we look for what it means to be led by the Spirit.

00:03:09.080 | And if you go to Galatians 5, being led by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, living

00:03:18.720 | by the Spirit is the same as bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

00:03:23.580 | So we look for love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness.

00:03:27.200 | In other words, as we look at our lives, are there evidences that the Spirit is producing

00:03:35.240 | things that are contrary to a fallen, unbelieving, selfish human nature?

00:03:42.560 | And I want to be real clear here, never does the Bible say that the evidence is perfection.

00:03:50.520 | It's always a direction of life where we say, "This, this, and this was contrary to my selfish

00:04:00.040 | spirit, and God worked that in me.

00:04:02.520 | I thank you, God, for giving me some measure of evidence that I belong to God."

00:04:08.960 | That's number one.

00:04:09.960 | So verse 14 points to the fact that the witness of the Spirit is His giving evidences in our

00:04:16.000 | life that we're His.

00:04:17.760 | And here's the second one.

00:04:19.760 | It means a heartfelt cry rises up in us to God as our Father and Christ as our Lord.

00:04:31.200 | So verse 15 and 16, "You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom you cry,

00:04:40.040 | 'Abba, Father!'

00:04:42.340 | The Spirit Himself bearing witness with your spirit."

00:04:44.880 | So when there rises in the believer's heart a humble, authentic, dependent, thankful,

00:04:54.760 | happy Father, Father, that's the Holy Spirit.

00:05:01.840 | Because a person who is without Christ cannot call out to God in a dependent, loving, thankful,

00:05:11.600 | humble way.

00:05:12.600 | They're too selfish.

00:05:13.600 | They're too self-reliant.

00:05:15.120 | They don't treat God that way.

00:05:17.480 | And the reason I said it's also a heart cry to Jesus as Lord is because He says almost

00:05:24.880 | the same thing in 1 Corinthians 12.

00:05:27.760 | 3.

00:05:28.760 | "Therefore, I want you to understand, no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says,

00:05:35.000 | 'Jesus is cursed.'

00:05:36.800 | And no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the Holy Spirit."

00:05:43.360 | So if your heart rises up not only to say, "Father, Father, I need you," but also rises

00:05:50.640 | up to say, "Jesus, my Master, my Lord, my God, my everything."

00:05:56.760 | If your heart rises up to say that, that's the Holy Spirit in you.

00:06:01.840 | That's the evidence of God in your life.

00:06:05.320 | That's part of His assuring work.

00:06:07.600 | So here's one last counsel.

00:06:10.520 | The source of assurance, finally, is not found by focusing on our hearts and ourselves.

00:06:19.320 | It's found by focusing on that Lord and that Father.

00:06:25.480 | Because Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth comes," this is John 16, 13, and 14, "When

00:06:33.600 | the Spirit of truth comes, He will glorify me."

00:06:38.840 | Which means, if you want the Holy Spirit to be at work in you, awakening that authentic

00:06:44.840 | cry to Jesus, "My Lord and to God, my Father," you look to them.

00:06:51.440 | You look to them, because that's whom the Holy Spirit glorifies.

00:06:55.640 | If you look within and take your life, I mean your eyes, off of Jesus, what's the Holy Spirit

00:07:01.200 | going to glorify?

00:07:02.200 | There's nothing for Him to magnify if you're not looking at Jesus and the Father.

00:07:07.920 | So bottom line, the Holy Spirit's witness is, one, His work in us to create evidences

00:07:14.800 | that we're His child by producing the fruits of the Spirit.

00:07:18.000 | And number two, it's His awakening in us of a heartfelt cry, "Daddy, Father, I need you.

00:07:25.640 | And Jesus, you're my Lord, you're my guide, you're my treasure."

00:07:30.320 | When our hearts are crying out with authentic dependence like that, and our lives are giving

00:07:35.480 | some evidence of His presence, then that's the work of the Holy Spirit witnessing.

00:07:41.160 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast.

00:07:44.800 | If you want more on this theme, go online at DesiringGod.org to listen to a sermon from

00:07:49.640 | John Piper on Romans 8, verses 13 to 17.

00:07:52.760 | The sermon is titled, "The Spirit-Led are the Sons of God," and it was preached on April

00:07:57.360 | 14, 2002.

00:07:59.480 | And while you're at the website, you can find thousands of free books, articles, sermons,

00:08:02.800 | and other resources from John Piper's 32 years plus of ministry.

00:08:08.120 | Tomorrow is July 4th, Independence Day, as it's known for those of us in the United States,

00:08:11.920 | and the day raises questions for us about national loyalty.

00:08:15.920 | How do we who are strangers, exiles, aliens, and pilgrims on the earth think about patriotism?

00:08:22.400 | Pilgrims and patriots, that's the topic tomorrow morning.

00:08:25.120 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:08:26.120 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John Podcast.

00:08:28.320 | [End of Audio]

00:08:29.320 | 1

00:08:29.320 | The Ask Pastor John Podcast is a production of the U.S. Department of State.

00:08:30.320 | The podcast is available in English and in other languages.

00:08:31.320 | Visit us at www.askpastorjohnpodcast.com.

00:08:31.320 | 2

00:08:32.320 | 3

00:08:33.320 | 4

00:08:34.320 | 5

00:08:35.320 | 6

00:08:36.320 | 7

Am I Saved?

Chapters