How to KNOW that you are a child of God! (Romans 8:4b-17 August 28, 2011)

Transcription

1 How to KNOW that you are a child of God! (Romans 8:4b-17 August 28, 2011) Perhaps the most famous of the Church Fathers was Augustine of Hippo. He was born in 354 in Thagaste in Northern Africa. His mother, Monica, was a devout Christian, but his father, Patricius, despised the faith. As a boy, Augustine turned from the faith of his mother and dabbled in the Manichean religion but as he would admit later his true religion was the world. From a young age the pleasures of the world especially sex were a large part of his life. He enjoyed relationships with many women including many prostitutes. One of the many women he enjoyed became close to him. She became his concubine and gave birth to his son, Adeodatus. He stayed with her for thirteen years and he came to think of her as his true love. Then, at age thirty, Augustine won the most visible academic chair in the Latin world. He became professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan. This was an important and influential position. But God was at work. Soon after he moved to Milan, Bishop Ambrose began to witness to Augustine. The prayers of his mother and the witness of Ambrose started to affect Augustine. He became a man in turmoil. He had a problem. He felt himself drawn to Christ but he really did not want to give up the world. He struggled but finally, he chose to get serious with Jesus. 1

2 He left his prominent job as a professor of rhetoric. He chose to abandon any ideas of marriage which he knew meant choosing celibacy a particularly difficult choice for him. Soon after his conversion, he was noticed on the street by a prostitute he had previously frequented. She called to him, Augustine, it is I! He ignored her and continued walking quickly down the street. She was not to be dissuaded, Augustine, it is I! When it became clear that this woman was not to be dissuaded, Augustine stopped and replied, Yes, but it is no longer I! These words sum up what it means to become a Christian. While our outer body looks the same the old self within dies and in its place, there is a new self. We find this wonderful truth in Romans 8. As we saw last week Paul begins this chapter with two of the most wonderful words anyone could ever hear no condemnation. 2

3 In the next 30 verses Paul tells us the Who, Why and What of no condemnation. He began with the Who. Who has no condemnation? Paul gives us the answer at the end of verse 1: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Who has no condemnation? Christ s People. No condemnation is only for those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who have trusted His blood His death to pay the penalty for our sin. This leads us to the Why. Why do we have no condemnation? Look at verses 3 and 4: By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Through Christ s Sacrifice, the requirements of the Law were fulfilled in us. This then leads us to the What. What shows we have no condemnation? What shows we are saved? 3

4 Paul says it is Christ s Witness. First Through the Spirit. Look at verse 9: You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Paul is saying this. How do you know that you are in Christ if the Spirit of Christ is in you changing your desires from the flesh to the things of God. But there is a second witness. The witness of our sufferings. Verses 16 17: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Paul then makes it clear that the sufferings of this world are nothing compared to the glory that awaits us. Finally, in verses Paul gives a response to the glories of no condemnation in one of the most wonderful promises in Scripture. This morning we are looking at this first witness the witness through the Holy Spirit. Have a look with me at verse 16: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Spirit of God testifies to our spirit our mind, our heart, our soul, our inner being that we are His children saved. But the question arises: How does the Spirit testify to us that we are saved? Ø Do we have a big E appear on our forehead to show us we are the elect? Ø Does a voice from heaven shout this one is my adopted Son? Ø Are we given the power to heal the sick or raise the dead or speak in tongues? In some ways those things would be nice wouldn t they? Neat objective clear cut. 4

5 But think what might happen. You pray the sinners prayer a voice from heaven says this one is saved and a big E appears. Hallelujah! You know you are in. But since sin is not finally done away with till glory what would happen? If our salvation is irrevocable if you cannot lose your salvation and we don t have to work at our salvation with fear and trembling then when we are confronted by sin knowing that whether we fight it or give in to it we are saved the sin within may well whisper enjoy yourself grace covers your sin. We might tend to rely on grace at the expense of holiness. Or if the Arminians are right and you gain and lose your salvation but what if there is a visible marker of the state of our salvation. Then you look one day and the E is gone you are backslidden and no longer saved. So you repent, strive for good works, recommit your life, maybe get rebaptised and it is back until you drift from the Lord again. Again there is no incentive to continually strive for holiness you just hope that you are doing well when the bus hits or that there is time to repent. But neither of these are what Paul says. God does something much wiser. He changes our heart from within. He changes our desires so that we want to please Him we want to do right. Not perfectly but we are radically altered in our desires and actions from the way we were before our salvation. And it is this changed heart that testifies to the truth that we are a new creature in Christ. Before I look at Romans there are a few passages I want to look at that help give context to our passage. 5

6 Ezekiel 36:25 28: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel speaks of what happens under the New Covenant. God put His Holy Spirit within us which causes us to walk in His statutes and be careful to obey His rules. But don t mistake this. The Spirit does not take over our bodies like some form of possession and force us to be holy. No God takes our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh a heart controlled by the Holy Spirit a heart that makes us want to walk in His statutes and be careful to obey His rules. 6

7 Philippians 2:12 13: Therefore, my beloved work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Notice the dual nature of working out our salvation. We have to do it but we can only do it because God is at work in us He gave us that new heart and the Holy Spirit in us to change our desires. Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. At salvation, we crucified our old self and were given a new self when Christ came to live in us. 7

8 By faith we call on the resources of Christ in us to live holy. Finally, Colossians 3:1 10: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. By the power of the Holy Spirit by Christ in us we choose to set our minds on the things above and to die to the things of the flesh. We put off the old self and put on the new self with a heart that is being renewed in knowledge after the image of the Creator. But I want you to notice a few points here. This is not an instantaneous occurrence. It is not that at salvation we completely put off the old self and put on the new self. Paul urges us to keep seeking the things that are above. To fight to put to death the flesh. To call on the resources of the Spirit to work towards being renewed in knowledge after our Creator. 8

9 This is a process. A lifetime process. We never finally get there in this life. But by the power of the Holy Spirit we have the desire, the strength and the power to slowly put to death the old self and put on the new self and to become more conformed to the image of Christ. Yes we will fall but the overall process is upwards. And we know that we hate sin when we fall and we see the power to fight it and grow more like Christ. Paul brings all of these concepts, themes and applications together in verses 4b to 17 of Romans 8. I just want to give you an overview of how this fleshes out. Again, remember that Paul is working up to verse 16: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. This is the bookend to verse 4a, where Paul says that Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for sin: In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Those who have the righteous requirement of the Law fulfilled in them by the sacrifice of Christ are the children of God. But how do you know that you are a child of God. Paul then gives a series of statements that build one on top of another linking verse 4a with verse 16. Look at how this builds. 9

10 Who are those in whom the righteous requirements of the Law are met? Those who are walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh v. 4b. How can you tell if you are walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh? You see where your mind is set on the flesh or on the Spirit v. 5. Is it crucial whether our mind is set on the Spirit or the flesh? It is a matter of eternal life or death heaven or hell condemnation or no condemnation vv

11 What is the result of being led by the Spirit of God? The Spirit witnesses to us that we are sons, adopted, children of God and fellow heirs with Christ! vv That is the flow of this section. Now lets look at it in a little more detail. Look with me at: Romans 8:4: [The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us], who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Look at how this builds. 11

12 Who are those in whom the righteous requirements of the Law are met? Those who are walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh v. 4b. The saved, the children of God they are the ones who have the power and desire to choose not to walk in the flesh not to live their lives driven by the desires of the flesh but to choose to live according to the power and desires of the Spirit of God. How can you tell if you are walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh? Verse 5: You see where your mind is set on the flesh or on the Spirit v

13 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Once you had no choice. vv.7 and 8 Once you were hostile to God you did not submit to God s Law in fact you had no power to do so you could not please God. But if the Spirit of God is in you then you have a choice about how you live. vv. 12 and 13 we are no longer debtors to the flesh we are those who have put to death the deeds of the body. Where before you were controlled by your flesh your sin nature. Now by the power of the Holy Spirit you can choose to set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Don t get me wrong it is a battle and always will be. You need to be putting on the armour of God daily. Praying, reading the word, fellowshipping with the saints, accountability, confession and even then it is hand to hand armed combat to fight off the old urges and choose to set your mind on the things above. But by the power of the Spirit within you can set your mind on the things of the Spirit. You can choose to live for eternity. You can choose to say no to sin. You can choose to say yes to evangelism and helping and giving. Paul gives us the test where are our strongest urges and desires. Is it lust and greed and selfishness? Are our thoughts consumed with the things of this world money, houses, jobs, cars. Or are our desires Godward. Do we weep at the fate of the lost? Do we move heaven and earth to see our kids come to Christ? Do we tend to our souls and the souls of our wives and husbands and neighbours? Do we long for eternity? Do we hate our sin? Do we cry Come Lord Jesus Come! Or are we so satisfied with this world that we cry Tarry Lord Jesus Tarry! I have yet to suck the marrow from this world. Do you live for eternity or now? Do you fight sin or succumb to it? Do you hate sin or find pleasure in it? Do you tell the lost of Christ or just talk Broncos? Where is your heart and mind set? Paul tells us if we are in Christ we have had a heart transplant. The old heart with it worldly longings and desires is gone. In its place we have a new heart tender to 13

14 Christ. Yes the smouldering embers of sin remain and flare up and cry out for attention but we cry begone my pleasure is in Christ! It is a fight. But how important is it to be in the battle? Is it crucial whether our mind is set on the Spirit or the flesh? Verse 6: It is a matter of eternal life or death heaven or hell condemnation or no condemnation vv For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. To set your mind on the flesh to focus your desires on the things of this world and the pleasures of this world is eternal death. To set your mind on the Spirit to focus your desires on the things of eternity and the pleasures Christ is eternal life. Do not mistake what Paul is saying. He is not teaching works salvation. He is not saying if you turn away from the world and turn to Christ then you will be saved. He is saying if you are saved then you will want to turn from the world and to Christ. This is a crucial difference works follows salvation salvation does not follow works. 14

15 If your mind is set on the flesh then this shows that the Spirit of God is not in you and you are headed for eternal death. If your mind is set on the Spirit then this shows the Spirit is in you and you are headed for eternal life and peace. Where your mind is set determines your actions and these are a witness to whether the Spirit of God is in you. The story is told that on one occasion Gustav Dore, the famous artist, lost his passport while traveling in Europe. He was at a border between two countries and the official in charge asked him for his passport. Dore fumbled about and finally announced, I have lost my passport, but it is all right. I m Dore, the artist. Please let me go in. The officer replied, Oh, no. We have plenty of people representing themselves as this or that great person! Here is a pencil and paper. Now, if you are Dore, the artist, prove it by drawing me a picture! Dore took the pencil and drew some pictures of scenes in the immediate area. The official looked at the drawings and said, Now, I am perfectly sure that you are Dore. No one else could draw like that! If our desires are on Christ, if our life reflects these desires then it is testimony that we are headed to eternal life. Verses 7 and 8: For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Without the Spirit of God there is no desire, no power to obey God. When confronted by a choice to sin or not to sin even if their conscience cries out that it is sin they weigh it up will this bring me pleasure? will this make me happy? even if it will not their sinful heart whispers go for it and there is no power to say I will not! I was thinking back over the decades before I became a Christian for examples of times when I know something was wrong but trough perversity, selfishness, foolishness did it anyway. The examples were so numerous so stupid so wrong I would be embarrassed to share them. At least after coming to Christ even if I sinned there was a struggle sorrow repentance. A shame at sinning against God. Verse 9: 15

16 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. What a sobering verse! How do you know that the Spirit dwells in you? When your mind is set on the things above. When you desire to live a life pleasing to God. When you are confronted by sin and the Spirit of God gives you the power to say no. But what if you find your mind is drawn more to the things of this world that there is no power to fight sin when there is nothing that sets you apart as a new creature different from before salvation? Then you may not have the Spirit of God which means you may not belong to Him. Paul has a pastor s heart. He knows that many claim Christ think they are saved but their lives show that they never truly repented and turned fully to Him. Listen to Jesus in Matthew 7:21 23: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. We are repeatedly called on to make sure we are saved. 2 Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 1 John is often called the book of tests of eternal life. John keeps saying if if you love your brother if you hate sin if if if then you may know that you have eternal life. Dave and I have often talked over the years that one of the saddest things is when someone in the church has a relative or a friend die and we ask were they a Christian? And there is a long pause. I don t know. I hope so. There was not much fruit. They loved the world. But at some time they did profess some faith. I hope they were just a really weak Christian. How do you know? 2 Peter 1:5 10: 16

17 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. If these qualities this fruit that springs from the work of the Spirit within if they are yours and are increasing then you can be sure of your calling and election and you will never fall. Paul is making exactly the same point. He is asking us to look within. Did our old self die? Are there new passions and desires? Is Christ the Pearl of Great Price in our lives? If not don t risk hearing begone from Me I never knew you? Instead ask God to send His Spirit to empower you from within. To take your heart of stone and give you a heart that beats for Him. Verses 10-11: But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Sin is killing our earthly bodies. I tell you the older I get the more things don t work right. Aches, pains age is not fun. And ultimately I will die we will all die in the body. But if you are in Christ then His Spirit is in you and the same Spirit who raised Christ s body from the dead will raise us. Whether we have His Spirit or not is a matter of eternal life or death. Verses 12-13: So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. When we trusted Christ His Spirit entered us and gave us the power to break our 17

18 debt and bondage to sin. We have a new master. We are bound to Christ who is risen from the dead and ever lives. If our lives show that we are not bound to Christ if we live in the flesh then our destiny is hell. Condemned. If our lives show we are bound to Christ because by the power of the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body as He rose so we will rise we will live eternally. Notice the power to put to death sin is not from us we do it but we can only do it if the Spirit is in us. If there is no power to deal with sin then maybe there is no Spirit within. But if the power is there if we can say with Augustine it is no longer I I am a new man then: What is the result of being led by the Spirit of God? The Spirit witnesses to us that we are sons, adopted, children of God and fellow heirs with Christ! vv Verses 14-17: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father! The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18

19 Listen to these terms sons of God, adoption, sons, Abba, Father, children of God, heirs, fellow heirs with Christ. In the ancient world, adoption was usually done by childless couples who were well to do. They wanted an heir. So they chose one who was worthy of the privilege. His character and conduct mark him out as one who will bear their name with honour. But, no man or woman none of us could ever be considered as worthy of adoption as God s child. All mankind has sinned. All mankind has gone astray. All mankind have hearts that spurned the love of God. And yet God still loved us, chose us, washed us and adopted us. What God does is what no human couple can do. He changes us from within and makes us worthy. 1 John 3:1: See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God. I want to spend a few minutes reflecting on what it means to be a child of God. I want you to fully grasp the unbelievable privilege we have to say to God Abba Father. Scripture presents a number of facets of our salvation Regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification. But these are somewhat legal and practical terms. They are cold and judicial. To be declared innocent is an incredible privilege but there is no doubt that J.I. Packer is right when he calls adoption: The highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even that justification. 1 Adoption is not a legal term it is a family term. We become heirs and the object of God s special love. It speaks of the closeness and affection that comes from being in the family. Salvation turned us from lost enemies into redeemed children. Heirs of God. Beloved of God. And this is perhaps the greatest of the many privileges of salvation. Adoption gives us a relationship with the Almighty that goes beyond mere rights and legalities. In one sense we are family Paul says we are heirs with Christ. Heirs of God alongside Christ. What greater privilege can there be. 1 J.I. Packer, Knowing God (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973) p

20 That is why it is the highest privilege imaginable to say that we are adopted into the family of God. To say that we are His children. And more than that, when we come to God, we can say Abba Father. Galatians 4:6: Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! Abba is the most intimate word for Father there is. This is the word of one who comes with full confidence and trust. It is hard to find an English equivalent. Daddy doesn t carry enough of the thoughts of reverence. Perhaps the best translation is Dear Father. It is the cry of confidence that Dear Father will hear and answer. It is this confidence that Christ spoke of in Matthew 7:7-11: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! These are the privileges that are ours if we are in Christ and His Spirit is in us. Verse 16: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Spirit witnesses to us through changed desires. We want to please dear Father. We hate the sins of the world. We feel the power of the Spirit changing our minds and giving us the power to say no to sin and yes to Christ. And by this we know that we are His children. Verse 17: And if children, then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. This verse is transitional. Not only is there the witness of the Spirit but there is the witness of suffering but that is nothing compared to the glory that awaits the children of God. This is expounded in the verses to follow. When Augustine met that prostitute on the street she encapsulated all his old life. But he was no longer the same man. That man had died. She held no attraction. She now revolted him and reminded him of all he had been. He could not imagine swapping the glories of heaven co-heirs with Christ life and peace for a tawdry hour of sin. 20

21 What once was the height of pleasure now represented all he hated. And this was his witness that he was a child of God and for him the verdict is no condemnation. Where are you this morning? Drawn to the world or to Christ? Don t get me wrong true Christians still feel the pull of the world but they hate even having that pull. Sometimes they fall but more and more by the power of the Spirit within they say no! But if there is no desire or power to say no we need to talk. For perhaps the Spirit of God does not dwell in you. But that door is never closed. Call on Him and He delights to send His Spirit to empower you. And if you see the witness of the Spirit changing your desires then all these privileges of heaven are yours life, sonship, adoption, co-heirs with Christ who cry Abba Father! 21