Man, the title of my sermon this evening is The Spirit Itself Beareth Witness with Our
Spirit.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit and that is of course found in Romans
chapter 8 verse 16.
We're going to go there in a little while, but right now we're in 1 John chapter number
5.
The Bible reads in Romans 8 16, the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God.
Now of course this is a very important fact to us that we are the children of God because
it's very important for us to know that we're saved and being saved and being a child of
God are the same thing.
A lot of people have this attitude to just say, oh, we're all of God's children, but
in reality the Bible says as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name.
And so if we have to become the sons of God, that means we were not previously the sons
of God, but by believing on the name of Jesus, we become the sons of God, right?
The Bible says elsewhere, ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
And so being saved, believing on Jesus Christ, being a child of God, these are all the same
thing.
And so it's important for us to know that we are the children of God, to know that we're
saved.
And the Bible says the spirit itself, talking about the Holy Spirit, bears witness with
our spirit, our personal spirit, that we are the children of God.
That's how we know that we are saved.
Now look at 1 John 5 and this is of course the famous verse about knowing that we have
eternal life.
The Bible reads in verse number 10, he that believeth on the son of God hath the witness
in himself.
The witness is the Holy Spirit.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his son.
And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his
son.
Now the record is talking about the word of God.
The Bible here tells us that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that he was
buried, that he rose again, and that he has given us eternal life.
Why?
Because we have believed on him.
Now when the Bible says that the Holy Spirit itself bears witness that we're the children
of God, the Holy Spirit does not just say things that are not in the Bible, okay?
And if you would, flip over to John chapter 16.
We'll come back to 1 John 5 if you want to keep a finger there.
But go over to John chapter 16 because a lot of people will just kind of make things up
and say, oh the Holy Spirit told me this, or the Holy Spirit said this to me, right?
And it's just something that they've kind of imagined themselves and then they just
start putting words into God's mouth or putting words in the Holy Spirit's mouth.
And we don't want to let our imagination get carried away like that because according to
the word of God itself, the Holy Spirit speaks through the word of God.
He doesn't just speak things that are unique and outside of scripture.
Look what the Bible says and I'll show you where I'm getting that.
It says in John chapter 16 verse 12, I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot
bear them now.
How be it when he, the spirit of truth, has come.
Notice that the spirit of truth is called he, which is a personal pronoun, right?
Because the Holy Spirit is a person.
When he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear.
That shall he speak and he will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.
Now what does this mean when the Bible says the spirit's not going to speak of himself?
Don't misunderstand this.
It's not saying that he's not going to speak about himself because he will speak about
himself because if the Holy Ghost inspired the word of God, does the Bible talk about
the Holy Spirit?
So that is the Holy Spirit talking about the Holy Spirit.
But when the Bible says that he will not speak of himself, it's saying that he will
not speak words that originate from him.
He's not going to speak something that's coming from him as the source, but rather he will
take of mine, Christ said, and will show it to you, okay?
Let's read this again.
I don't want you to miss this.
It's so important that we get this.
How be it when he, the spirit of truth, has come, verse 13, he will guide you into all
truth.
How will he guide us into all truth?
He will not speak of himself, meaning he's not going to just say things that he is the
author of that are just unique, not found in scripture, not found in the word of God,
but rather it says he will take of mine, well let me back up to where I was reading, sorry,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak, and he
will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.
Now remember, Jesus Christ, right, the second person of the Trinity, the son of God, is
associated with the word of God, because remember the Bible says in the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God.
The word was made flesh and dwelled among us and we beheld his glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.
So when the Bible says that the spirit is going to receive of mine, when Christ says
that, basically what it's saying is that the Holy Spirit is going to take the word of God
as found in scripture, as found in the Bible, he's going to take that and he's going to
show it to you.
He's going to guide you into all truth by illuminating the scripture unto you, by bringing
all things to remembrance whatsoever I have spoken unto you, Christ said.
So Christ has spoken his word.
The Bible contains the word of God and the Holy Spirit doesn't just speak of himself.
He doesn't say, hey, go talk to that guy or whatever, you know, and that's the kind of
thing people, you know, I just heard the Holy Spirit tell me, go do this or, you know, move
to Miami, Florida or something.
You know, they'll get these revelations from God, but that's not how the Holy Spirit speaks.
The Holy Spirit will illuminate scripture.
He will take of Christ's word and will show it unto us.
He will guide us into all truth.
He will bring all things to remembrance that Christ has said unto us and this is why in
Ephesians chapter 6, the Bible, the word of God is called the sword of the spirit.
So the spirit uses the word of God as a weapon, right?
It's the sword of the spirit.
The spirit's sword is the word of God.
Now let me ask you this, how can the Holy Spirit bring the word of God to your remembrance
if you've never read the word of God or if you've never heard the word of God?
Therefore, the more you read the Bible and the more you listen to the Bible, then that
gives the Holy Spirit more to work with of what he can bring to remembrance, what he
can show to you.
If you're just never reading the Bible, never going to church, never listening to the preaching
of God's word, you can't just expect the Holy Spirit to just be talking to you because he's
not just going to speak of himself.
He's going to show you the word of God.
He's going to bring to remembrance whatsoever Christ has said unto you and so you have to
get it from the word of God and this is why we need to beware of extra biblical revelations
and people hit me with this all the time, how God revealed this to them and God said
this to them.
I had a guy tell me recently, he said, you know, when I came and talked to you the other
day, that wasn't my idea.
He said, you know, it was God who actually told me to go talk to you and when I was saying
to you, it was like, it was like God was just speaking through me when I talked to you and
I said to this guy, I said, well then you know what I should have been doing when you
were talking to me now that you know, you tell me this now because I should have my
pen out and I should have been writing it down so that I could paste it into the back
of my Bible because if what you spoke to me was the inspired word of God, well then I
want to put that in my Bible so that I can read it, study it, memorize it since what
you spoke was straight from the mouth of, since the Holy Ghost was just speaking by
your mouth, then that would be the word of God and so I, you know, I need that, you know,
and he's like, no, no, no, that's not what I meant, but that's what you're saying though.
When you're sitting there saying, oh God's speaking through me and what I'm saying is
inspired by the Holy Ghost and, and, and you know, I was in the shower the other day, they
always say, and God spoke to them, well then you know what, if God spoke to you in the
shower, you know, I hope you wrote that in the, in the, in the fog or whatever so that
we could all transcribe that later and, and we could all benefit from that.
But guess what?
Extra biblical revelations are bogus because God has spoken unto us in these last days
by his son.
He has given us his word.
We have Genesis through Revelation, we have a complete Bible here and we are throughly
furnished unto all good works with scripture, right, scripture, all scripture, scripture
means that which is written down in the Bible, all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect, meaning complete, complete, perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works.
That means I've got what I need.
I'm complete, I'm throughly furnished, I'm not missing any weapons, I'm not missing any
armor that I need.
It's all right here in the Bible.
This is all I need.
I don't need some guy to come up to me and give me an extra biblical revelation.
Here's another thing about extra biblical revelations is if they agree with scripture,
then they're unnecessary because we already have scripture to tell us the same thing and
if they disagree with scripture, they're false.
Any extra biblical revelation that disagrees with scripture is false and if it disagrees
with what scripture already teaches us, then we don't need it because we already have scripture
teaching us that and so don't get sucked in to these extra biblical revelations.
The Holy Spirit's ministry is to show us what the word of God says to bring the Bible to
our remembrance and think about when you're talking to someone sometimes and the perfect
verse just pops into your mind, right?
That's the Holy Spirit bringing that into your remembrance.
Maybe you're discouraged or down and then God brings that verse to your mind that encourages
you and lifts you up.
Maybe you're doubting your salvation and that's what we're talking about tonight with knowing
that you're saved and the Spirit itself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God.
Well then, the Holy Spirit, if you're having doubts or you're wondering, am I saved?
He could bring to remembrance those Bible verses that tell you that you're saved.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine
heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved and when you go over that
verse in your mind, when that verse is brought to your remembrance, then you feel better
about your salvation, don't you?
Because you say, yeah, check.
Believe in your heart, check.
Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, check.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
That's me.
I'm a whosoever.
I called upon the name of the Lord.
I believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I have eternal life.
I'm born again and then that gives me assurance of my salvation.
But is the Holy Spirit the only one who gives us assurance of our salvation?
No, because the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit.
I just had to pause, let the gunshots go by.
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God, meaning that
there are two parties here bearing witness that we're the children of God.
Am I right?
Two parties are speaking here.
One, the Holy Spirit is saying you're a child of God.
And then our own spirit is saying you're a child of God.
So the Holy Spirit and our spirit are bearing witness together that we're the children of
God.
And so back in 1 John 5, we'll finish up over there and then we're going to go to Romans
chapter 8 and look at that verse that is the title of the sermon.
Look at 1 John chapter 5 again.
It says in verse number 9, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
For this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son.
This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God.
Right?
So this verse right here makes it clear that we can know for sure we're going to heaven.
And when we go out soul winning, we always ask people, hey, do you know for sure if you
died today that you would go to heaven?
And I'm going to show you tonight why that question is biblical, okay?
One of the reasons why it's biblical is because the Bible says right here that we can know
for sure that we're going to heaven.
And a lot of people will say, I hope so, I think so, I'm working on it, whatever.
And I always say to that person, well, can I show you from the Bible how you can know
that you have eternal life?
Can I show you how you can know that you're saved?
Because hope so is not the same as no so.
I think so, probably, yeah, I think I probably would.
No, that's not good enough, right?
You want to know that you're going to heaven.
And how do we know that we're going to heaven?
Because he that has a son has life.
If you believe on his name, right, it says, these things have I written unto you that
go to church, is that what he said?
These things have I written unto you that got baptized?
These things have I written unto you that repented of all your sins and turned over
a new leaf and cleaned up your life and finished a 12-step program.
He said, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of
God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name
of the Son of God.
That last statement that you may believe on the name of the Son of God is basically saying,
you know, I'm writing unto you that are saved so that you'll know and then I'm also writing
this in case you're not saved so that you'll get saved, right?
Because obviously 1 John is written primarily to believers, you know, the New Testament
in general is written primarily to believers, but of course, it's also the tool for getting
people to salvation as well.
It does both and I believe that's why that last phrase is there.
So let's flip back to Romans chapter 8 with that in mind and let's look at the verse that
we're focusing on tonight, Romans 8 16, the Spirit itself, bear witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God.
And let's just back up one verse to verse 15, get a little context here, it says in
verse 15, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received
the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father.
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And so what does that mean, the spirit of bondage again to fear?
Well the Bible tells in the book of Hebrews that Christ came to deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
So through fear of what were they subject to bondage?
Through fear of death.
And so when the Bible talks about here the spirit of bondage again to fear, the fear
is fear of death that we're talking about.
We're talking about unsaved people scared about what's going to happen after they die,
are they going to go to hell, are they going to be punished for all the sins that they've
committed, what's going to happen when they die?
They don't know.
And so this is a scary thing and this is something that a lot of unsaved people just don't want
to think about.
And this is why some people might get a little irritated when you bring up to them salvation,
heaven and hell, you start talking about the gospel.
It can be uncomfortable for some people because this is a scary thing that they'd rather not
think about.
You know I asked my wife about this because I got saved as a small child so it's hard
for me to sometimes understand what it's like to be an unsaved person as a teenager or an
adult or something like that because I was so young when I was unsaved I have very little
memory of what it was like to be unsaved and I was just a little kid.
So I didn't really get much of that experience.
And I asked her you know what's going through your mind as an unsaved person, what do you
think about these things when you're just an agnostic or growing up Catholic or whatever.
And she said you know it's just the type of thing you just kind of push out of your mind
and just try not to think about it too much because you don't really want to dwell on
it because it can be kind of a scary thought.
And that's what the Bible says when it says that there's a bondage of fear for the unsaved.
But we as saved Christians we've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.
But what we received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father and how do we have
this assurance that we're saved?
Well the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we're the children of God.
So that gives us assurance that we're saved and going to heaven because the Holy Spirit
and our own spirit are telling us that we are the children of God.
This is totally unrelated to the sermon a little side note it's funny we're having a
conversation at lunch today about the word dad.
And we're you know we're talking about how babies when they start talking it's like mama
dad da right and they and they say and we're talking to where is Alex?
Anyway I was talking to Alex and he said he was saying how his daughter said also he said
he said she had like three words and then and then she also just says baba but it doesn't
seem to mean anything we can't figure out what it means.
And I was saying well you know that's that's funny because it's just because that's one
of the letters that's formed with your lips at the front you know if you think about the
labial letters is what linguistics would call it mama pa ma ba right those all happen on
your lips and they're really easy for babies to make those sounds and they really excel
at those front sounds in their mouth so they just kind of chatter with mama dad da you
know dental a little further back but papa mama and then I we were joking around like
oh you know you know in another world they you know the word for dad could have been
baba you know because it's just right there like it's easy mama papa ma pa ba but then
it's funny we're having that conversation I wasn't even thinking about the fact that
the Hebrew word here is perfect because you know when we're looking at this he says we
cry abba father right so anyway that was nothing to do with the sermon but it just kind of
vindicates a conversation that we were having at lunch today because you know that ba sound
is a sound that babies can easily make and so that's why those words for mom and dad
are like mama pa and yes ba right here so maybe his daughter is just speaking Hebrew
to him he doesn't even know it but anyway the point is that you know we cry abba father
right the Lord is our father we're saved we're adopted we're not scared about our destination
because we know that we're the children of God and if we do start to wonder about that
or worry about that or have doubts about that well then that's where the spirit itself bears
witness with our spirit that we're the children of God now I will say that probably every
Christian has had doubts at some point in their life and I don't think that that makes
you unspiritual or abnormal to have doubted your salvation or to have doubted the word
of God or to have doubted Christ because let's face it even John the Baptist the greatest
Christian who ever lived the greatest man among them that are born of women when he
was in prison he sent to Jesus Christ to ask art thou he that should come or do we
look for another and this is after John the Baptist had already declared him to be the
lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world and how did John the Baptist know that
Jesus was the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world because he said well
he that sent me to baptize with water said upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending
like a dove and remaining on him it is he that baptizes the Holy Ghost and I saw and
bear record that this is the son of God so John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit descending
in bodily shape like a dove upon Christ at his baptism and he said behold the lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world but then months later what's he saying now
well art thou he that should come or do we look for another that's pretty weird that
he's doubting now well not really when you think about the fact that we as human beings
we all have doubts that we're just human and I believe that God allowed that to be put
in the Bible with such a great man such as John the Baptist having that kind of a doubt
just to let us know hey human beings are going to have doubts it's normal but of course God
wants us to have assurance of our salvation and I do believe this I believe that the more
time you spend reading your Bible and spending time in church praying singing the hymns walking
in the spirit I think you're going to have greater assurance of your salvation than when
you start to drift away from the things of God that's when the doubts creep in why because
you're walking in the flesh and the fruit of the spirit is faith and so when you're
walking in the spirit your faith is stronger you have greater confidence also the more
Bible you're reading the more Holy Spirit verses can be coming at you to remind you
that you are saved versus the guy who's just out there in the world he starts doubting
Christ and doubting whether he's saved I will say this I do not believe for one second that
it is possible for a truly saved Christian to stop believing in Christ no saved person
will stop believing in Christ now obviously like I said you can have doubts but there's
a big difference in doubting and just saying oh I don't believe in Jesus anymore anybody
make no mistake anybody who says they don't believe in Jesus anymore never believed in
him in the first place okay because there are two kinds of people in this world there
are those who believe on Jesus and those who have not believed that's what the Bible says
in John chapter 3 verse 18 he that believeth or let's let me let me read it because I always
mix these together when I get excited so John chapter 3 verse 18 he that believeth on him
is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned why is he condemned because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God he never has believed
that's why Jesus will say to him one day depart from me I never knew you once a person believes
on Christ they are indwelled by the Holy Spirit because the Bible says if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ he's none of his if you don't have the Holy Spirit living inside
of you you're not saved every saved Christian is indwelled by the Holy Spirit what is that
like to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit what is the Holy Spirit do inside of us well when
we were in John chapter 16 we saw that the Holy Ghost brings those things that Christ
has taught us to our remembrance he guides us into all truth and he takes of Christ's
word and he shows it unto us right here we're saying that the Holy Spirit also bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God and of course those two things are connected
because the way that he can bear witness to us that we are the children of God is by showing
us the Word of God pointing us back to those scriptures that we believed when we first
received Christ for example or others that we've read since that confirmed that salvation
is by faith that we are secure saved and so forth now don't let it bother you that the
Bible says the Spirit itself beareth witness because we've already seen elsewhere that
the Bible said the Spirit himself you know he will show it to you so the Bible will refer
to the Holy Spirit as both he or it and this shouldn't bother us or we shouldn't read too
much into this because a lot of people will try to depersonalize the Holy Spirit and say
that the Holy Spirit is the force or something you know or a force or may the force be with
you or whatever that's what the Jehovah's Witnesses will say that the Holy Spirit is
a force but of course the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as he him the fact that the
Holy Spirit is referred to here with a neuter pronoun the Spirit itself is because obviously
the Holy Spirit is both person and thing right and so either pronoun can be used and
in the original language it's a neuter word but even a lot of words for people are neuter
words in other languages because you know other languages just have grammatical gender
and they just use neuter pronouns to refer even to people like you know the German word
for girl is das meitchen it's a neuter word right even though girls are clearly feminine
but that's not the point so the Spirit itself it could just as easily say the Spirit himself
right because that's what it says in other parts of the Bible but it's totally legitimate
here for it to say the Spirit itself because again we're talking about both a he and an
it here Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God so
how does our spirit bear witness that we're the children of God because we saw that the
Holy Spirit bears witness that we're the children of God what about our spirit though
what role does our spirit play because I feel like a lot of Christians when they're reading
the New Testament they sometimes don't stop and think about the fact that there are two
different spirits that are living within us there's the Holy Spirit and then there's our
spirit and those are not the same spirit so I think a lot of people will just kind of
mix this up and they think whenever the Bible is talking about our spirit or the spirit
they just think oh that's the Holy Spirit but there are two different things here there's
our spirit and then there's the Holy Spirit what do I mean by that well we as human beings
are a trichotomy we are a three-part being because we are made up of body soul and spirit
right we're not just a body we're not just flesh and bone we are also spiritual we have
a spirit and we also have a soul now what do these three components do what function
do they fulfill body soul and spirit well I heard it explained this way and I believe
this is scriptural and jives with what the Bible teaches one way to look at it is that
our body is how we interact with the physical world right we interact with the physical
world through our body we eat a cheeseburger and it's our body that is enjoying that cheeseburger
okay so that's just our physical interaction with this world but then our soul is that
which interacts with other people right we interact with one another on the soul level
and then the spirit is that which interacts with God right so we communicate with God
via the spirit we communicate with one another or maybe we appreciate fine art or music or
things that things that animals can't understand right we comprehend those things and feel
those things in our soul and then of course you know we and animals can both enjoy a cheeseburger
because that's just the body it's just a physical spirit and obviously we you know there are
verses that talk about animals having a soul and having a spirit but obviously we understand
that you know that's not the same kind of soul and spirit that we're talking about with
humans you know sometimes the word soul can just be talking about just life you know just
something being alive as a soul right and sometimes spirit can simply be referring to
just breath right but when we're talking about human beings though we have the ability to
interact physically with the world we interact with one another and we interact with God
okay and so our spirit is that part of us that yearns for communion with God just like
our body craves a cheeseburger just like our soul craves to interact with our fellow man
our spirit craves interaction with God now before we are saved our spirit is dead okay
the spirit is dead in trespasses and sins but when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
our spirit is quickened brought back to life and so what what does this mean that our spirit
is dead before we're saved what this means is that we can't have communion with God before
we're saved so unsaved people they're not having fellowship with God they're not having
communion with God they that are in the flesh the Bible says cannot please God you have
to be in the spirit to please God the carnal mind meaning the physical fleshly mind is
enmity against God it cannot be brought into subjection to laws of God the Bible says right
so we've got to have the spirit alive in order for us to communicate with God that's why
in order to pray to God and and to have fellowship with God and for God to hear your prayers
you have to be saved so unsaved people you know for example let's say some Israeli soldier
in the Middle East right some Jewish Israeli soldiers over the Middle East and he's praying
to God well first of all he's not praying to the same God that I'm praying to because
the Bible says if you don't have the son you don't have the father so he's praying to a
false God number one but even if he were pray even if he were praying to the same God even
if he said Oh God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and he's identifying his God as the God of
the Bible God is not hearing his prayers okay and a lot of people struggle with this and
and and you know but but here's what I would say to those that struggle with this idea
is that if God is hearing unsaved people's prayers then then so basically there's just
no difference between me and an unsaved person when it comes to talking to God really because
I thought that Christ has made a new way into the throne room of grace he's made a new way
into that holy place where I can boldly enter the throne of grace and find grace to help
in time of need I can boldly enter and make my supplications and prayers and requests
made known to God oh just kidding you could already do that as an unsaved person no you
do that through Christ no man cometh unto the father but by me Christ said so you can't
bypass salvation in Christ and then just go straight to God the father and say Oh God
of Abraham Isaac and Jacob help me if you're not saved your prayers are hitting the ceiling
and bouncing back okay that is a fact because think about it this way what does it mean
that the spirit is dead before you're saved it's sort of like if you had a radio to talk
to God on the radio your radio is broken it doesn't mean that you don't want to talk to
God it doesn't mean that you're not trying to talk to God it doesn't mean that you're
not saying into the radio mayday mayday you know it means that the radio is bust and you've
got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order for the radio to be repaired so when
you get saved your spirit is quickened now you are able to enter the most holy place
you are able to make your request known unto God as his children you are able to ask your
father you can cry Abba father the unsaved can't say that okay and if they do it you
know it doesn't matter it doesn't mean anything because he's not actually there you know some
kid could run up to me in the store and say hey dad I'm gonna say get away from me you
bother me you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say sure son what can I do for you I'm gonna
say depart from me I never knew you and so you've got to be a child of God you got to
have the spirit living in order to commune with God in order to have a relationship with
God see the unsaved don't have a relationship with God those that are saved now that relationship
has been opened up now through Jesus through salvation through Christ's blood through faith
in his blood we now have peace with God right because we were at enmity with God because
of our trespasses and sins but now through Christ we have peace with God I mean we're
in Romans 8 you can even just flip back to chapter 5 verse 1 where it says therefore
being justified by faith justified means you're saved folks being justified by faith
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access right so
you don't have access until you're saved right you get saved that's how you get access everybody
see that into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice and hope of the glory of God and
not only so but we glory in tribulations also etc so again you know I'm kind of summarizing
a lot of big ideas that you kind of have to read the whole book of Romans whole book of
Ephesians to get these kind of ideas but I'm just trying to kind of break things down and
make them simple tonight or as simple as we can to understand these things and so before
you're saved the spirit is dead the radio is dead communications not open you don't
have access access denied okay you got to go through Christ in order to get access restored
so a lot of people misunderstand this though when they hear about the spirit being dead
and they'll say well you know if your spirits dead you just you can't do anything you know
you just you're just you're just a spiritual blob and you can't make any right decisions
you know and this really isn't true okay this is an exaggeration and sometimes people call
this total depravity and and and basically they'll what they'll do is they'll exaggerate
the condition of the unsaved person and I've had a lot of Calvinists come at me with this
thing of saying like well what can a dead man do hmm what can a dead man do and the
truth of the matter is the dead man can do a lot because we had all kinds of dead people
walking around out there because every unsaved person spiritually speaking is dead and trespasses
and sins their bodies alive and well they're interacting with cheeseburgers no problem
they're they're they're their soul is alive and well they're they're interacting with
one another no problem but when it comes to having a relationship with God communion with
God fellowship with God access to the Father they don't have it they're dead they are dead
in trespasses and sins but what can they do all kinds of things they do all kinds of things
every day and what you have to understand is that it's not that they don't have a spirit
it's that the spirits dead what does it mean for the spirit to be dead well what it means
is that they cannot have access to God they can't talk to God but they still desire that
communion with God and here's the proof do our unsaved people religious stop and think
about it our unsaved people religious do they want to talk to God do they want to have
some kind of a spiritual experience so apparently their spirit inside them is hungry for something
craving for something otherwise explain a billion Hindus right explain 500 million Buddhists
explain a billion Catholics you know they want to smell the incense they want to cross
themselves they want to light a candle they want to genuflect they want to meditate they
want to you know fast and pray and do all these things why is it their body that wants
them to do those things is it their soul that wants them to those things no I believe it's
their spirit that has that hunger or yearning or craving for the spiritual and you'll even
hear people that are unsaved not even Christians and they'll say well I'm not religious but
I am I'm spiritual and this is not just a few people it's like virtually everybody and
even your science-based evolutionist types they get a little mystical on you sometimes
don't they and they start to speak a little bit like religious people you know and and
in many ways atheism itself can function like a religion and and even science can sometimes
become like a religion and where they have their different priests and and and doctrines
and and they have experiences and so forth and so the point is that human beings even
if they have a dead spirit they can't have a relationship with the true God until their
spirit is quickened through faith in Christ but they still do crave something spiritual
they do also you know want to know God and in many cases obviously the unsaved man who
has heard the word of God or had that seed planted you know maybe that seed is germinating
and he's on his way toward getting saved and we can talk to that person and try to water
that seed and so forth but but ultimately that unsaved person is going to have to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved and call upon the name of Lord now the Calvinists will
often say well they can't do that because they're dead but again these are just these
are just rules that they're making like they just make these rules dead people can't call
upon Jesus to be saved well dead people are the only kind of people that call upon Jesus
to be saved because people are saved they're already done they already did they already
did that so every single person who calls upon Christ for salvation is an unsafe person
unless they just do it again to be safe or something which we've all I think we've all
done it again just to be safe right so you know the Calvinists they they make up doctrines
they make up rules as they go along and say well unsafe people are just incapable believing
on Christ but yet the Bible just says whosoever will may come and and they're all these invitations
to unsaved people to get saved to believe if it were impossible for them to do that
then well that wouldn't make a lot of sense would it I don't want to make this a big it's
tempting to just kind of go off on Calvinism I don't want to make this a big anti-Calvinism
sermon although you know those are fun because it's like taking candy from a baby preaching
against Calvinism because there are so many verses that debunk it but I digress so the
point is the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God
what is it that changed about our spirit when we got saved well the dead spirit the unsaved
man's spirit it's broken as we said right it's dead in trespasses and sins and so it's
not functioning properly it's not able to communicate with God once we get saved our
personal spirit is actually resurrected from the dead okay so that the spirits dead and
then it's resurrected now in order to understand the resurrection of the spirit let's think
about the resurrection of the body for a moment okay so what's gonna happen when Christ returns
someday and there's a bodily resurrection well our vile body as the Bible says is going
to be changed so that it may be likened to his glorious body okay so when when when Christ
returns let's say you have physical ailments and problems those are gonna be fixed in the
new body right because the the new glorified body let's say you're a blind person right
when Christ returns and you're resurrected you're not gonna be blind anymore you know
if you're deaf right now you're not gonna be deaf anymore okay you are gonna be resurrected
in a new glorified body he will change this vile body that it may be likened into his
glorious body and so we will be transformed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye we will
be like him we will be glorified and and whatever problems there are with us physically those
are gonna be fixed in the new body okay and so it's the same thing with the spirit the
dead spirit is not right with God the the the the saved spirit is actually totally perfect
and without sin okay so when we are physically resurrected someday our body is not going
to have any flaws in it anymore right like I said you know deafness blindness you know
just injuries missing body parts extra body parts whatever the new body is going to fix
all that right well what about all of our spiritual flaws well when we get saved or
excuse me yeah when we get saved and the spirit is resurrected then now those spiritual flaws
are got now we have this spirit inside of us that is a right version of you okay not
to be confused with the Holy Spirit okay your spirit your body so in spirit you have this
messed up dead spirit but then when you get saved now your spirits resurrected and just
like when the body is resurrected it doesn't have the ailments anymore your spirit that's
resurrected now it works now it's perfect and in fact the Bible calls that the new creature
the new man when we talk about the new creature the new man we're not talking about your body
because nothing about your body changed when you got saved your soul didn't change okay
your spirit went from being dead to being alive as transformed and now your spirit is
like the new you that is just totally conformed to to Christ's image and so forth on the inside
and so now that you're saved you still have the same old sinful flesh that you had before
you were saved but then now you also have this spirit that is just it's just perfect
it's just right on I mean theoretically if you would walk in this not even theoretically
I shouldn't even say it that way I should say if you walk in that spirit you will do
all the right things right so like if you're walking in the spirit if you're putting on
the new man the Bible calls it putting on the new man if you do that you will do all
the right things you're not going to be sinning you're not going to fulfill the lusts of flesh
you are going to be just following Christ's commandments doing all the right things but
the problem is that the flesh is constantly getting in the way and so there's a constant
battle going on the Bible says the flesh lusted against the spirit the spirit against the
flesh these two are contrary the one to the other so you cannot do the things that you
would so if the spirit were to theoretically take over all the time then you'd never sin
but that's impossible because it's impossible for you to totally get rid of your flesh it's
only one way for your flesh to be totally gone and that's when you die someday or when
Christ comes and transforms you in a moment in a twinkling of an eye if you happen to
be alive and remain under the coming of the Lord but as long as we're living on this earth
physically well we have this sinful flesh that's battling against our righteous spirit
okay now in light of the fact that our spirit is perfect and it's a new creature old things
are passed away all things have become new new man righteous perfect created in the image
of God and so forth in light of the fact that our spirit is that way can you see why that
spirit would testify to us that we're the children of God so the spirit itself talking
about the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God how
does the Holy Spirit bear witness that we're the children of God he brings the Word of
God to our remembrance he's using scripture he's preaching to us but he's not us the Holy
I'm not the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit's not me the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside
of me right so there's actually there's like four things going on right here there's Stephen
Anderson's body Stephen Anderson's soul Stephen Anderson's spirit and the Holy Spirit everybody
see that four things here that we're talking about okay the flesh is the bad guy he's gonna
die someday okay and as long as he's around Stephen Anderson is still gonna sin and not
be perfect and not do all the right things because he is struggling against the new Stephen
Anderson which is the spirit and then the Holy Spirit is there as a third party that
is not me but God himself living inside of me right in the form of the Holy Spirit that
is also having influence on me so how do I know that I'm saved okay well number one I
know I'm saved because the Bible says I'm saved and then the Holy Spirit brings those
verses to my remembrance right these things have I written that you may know that you
have eternal life that's one way that I know that I'm saved but another way that I know
that I'm saved is that not only do I have the Holy Spirit but my spirit my spirit has
been totally transformed right and so don't you think I would notice that or that there
would be some kind of evidence of that or some kind of a manifestation of that that
my broken radio is no longer broken you know and that's just one aspect of the spirit as
far as communicating with God but that my spirit that was dead is now alive isn't that
going to be a significant change that took place inside of me when I got saved now here's
where a lot of people get mixed up on this a lot of people will say you know we have
to see an external change or else you're not saved and they'll say if I don't see a change
then I don't believe that they're saved and they're basically looking at the outside and
saying well if you don't do the works you're not saved and they'll say well you know you
don't have to do works to be saved but if you're saved you'll do the works and if we
don't see that outward manifestation of the works then we don't believe that you're saved
now this is misguided because the change that takes place when you get saved is not
necessarily an external change but it is a dramatic internal change now why do we make
a big deal out of this the reason we make a big deal out of this is because when you
start saying if you don't have works you're not saved then this can very easily be confused
for do works in order to be saved and it can also very easily be confused for you don't
have assurance of your salvation unless you're doing certain works and then these are these
are wrong doctrines now look I do not believe that a person who says those things is necessarily
unsaved if somebody says well works have nothing to do with your salvation but if somebody's
saved they'll have works that doesn't don't just jump to declare that person unsaved you're
overreacting okay a lot of people believe that they're not correct but they're also
not heretics so don't just don't just get so radical that if people are just not crossing
every T and dotting every I doctrinally you just declare them unsafe as long as people
are fully relying on what Christ did for them on the cross they're saved as long as they're
saying works have nothing to do with my salvation it's all by faith that I'm saved that's what
saves them if they just say well I just think that there's gonna be works doesn't mean that
they're unsaved and guess what usually there is gonna be something outward that we can
look at but not always because the Bible says him that work had not 10 the work had not
but believeth his faith is counted for righteousness so the Bible does describe a situation where
people don't do any works but yet they're saved and I'd rather emphasize that because
of the fact that we want to make it crystal clear to this lost and dying world that salvation's
a hundred percent by faith and zero percent by works and a lot of people when they start
talking about what you gotta have you know the works afterward they end up muddying the
waters of what salvation even is and and they're doing more harm than good and they're causing
confusion and what they're saying is not even totally accurate because there are situations
where people do believe in Christ and they don't have any works and that situation described
in first Corinthians chapter three and it's described in Romans chapter four but but what
we but what we do need to understand is that there is a dramatic change that takes place
internally when you get saved so someone else might not be able to see that from the outside
unless you put on the new man unless you walk in the new man unless you start living like
a Christian and walking in the spirit but you know about the change that happened within
you if you're saved now what does this change look like well you're in Romans chapter eight
just back up a few verses to Romans chapter number seven and I'm not going to preach about
Romans chapter number seven because it deserves its own sermon but Romans chapter seven the
Apostle Paul is describing the struggle that's going on in his own heart where he he wants
to do the right thing he keeps sinning and and he does things he doesn't want to do and
then he doesn't do things that he doesn't want to do and he's going through this battle
where the flesh is hindering him in his Christian life but what I want to point out is just
one particular statement that he makes here that is so important verse number 22 of chapter
seven it says for I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another
law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
of the law of sin which is in my members members are body parts so he's saying look
I delight in the law of God after the inward man when it comes to the inward man I love
God I love the word of God I love the law of God I love the do's and don'ts I want to
do what's right I want to be a good person I want to follow Christ I don't want to sin
according to inward man but then I have this other law in my members warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity and so you have people out there where the
spirits willing but the flesh is weak and so in the inward man they're delighting in
the law of God but when it comes to their actions they're doing the wrong things does
this make them unsaved because they're doing the wrong things because they're not in church
because they're living in sin no it doesn't make them unsaved it just means they're walking
in the flesh they've let the flesh win out and let's face it if you're not going to church
and you're not reading your Bible of course the flesh is going to win how do you get the
spirit to win you feed the spirit right you starve the flesh you feed the spirit the flesh
is going to lose its ascendancy and now the spirit can begin to dominate in our lives
and so here's one way that I know I'm saved because the Bible says so here's another way
that I know I'm saved because the Holy Spirit is testifying that using the Bible bringing
those things to my mind but here's another way I know I'm saved because I have within
me the inward man that delights in the law of God right and I have this new creature
living inside of me the new Steven Anderson and that is different than the old Steven
Anderson and so here's what I would say to you if you're sitting here right now and you
look inside and you don't find any desire to serve God you don't find any love for the
Lord you don't find any delight in the Bible the Word of God then you know that would be
a sign that you're not saved because if you just don't have a spiritual bone in your body
well then what does that say about your spirit sounds like your spirit may still be dead
in trespasses and sins right but once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ not only
does the Holy Spirit move in also your spirit is transformed and that is a change that you
should be able to recognize now again I'm not trying to make anyone doubt their salvation
okay because let's face it it's not hard to be saved it's easy to be saved it's not like
God's up in heaven making you jump through all these hoops and you're gonna get there
and he says ah you didn't cross the T didn't dot the I depart from me I never knew you
God wants you to be saved just as much as you want to be saved God's not willing that
any should perish God's not trying to trick you God's not trying to mess with you God's
not trying to confuse you if you are sincere then you will come to Christ and be saved
and go to heaven people who don't go to heaven it's because there's something insincere about
their seeking for Christ because if you seek you'll find if you knock it'll be opened that's
what the Bible says and so God's not trying to trick you or mess with you so that's why
I'm not trying to cast doubt on your salvation I'm just saying if you're sitting here because
your parents dragged you here because your friends dragged you here because you know
your spouse dragged you here and you're just like man I don't even care about the things
we got I don't even care about Jesus I don't care about any of this you know you're probably
not saved you know and if you and if you look inside and don't find any love for God or
Christ or the Bible then you're not saved because the inward man should be there delighting
in the law of God and again look we could go through all kinds of people's testimonies
who got saved and then spent years living a very sinful life after they were saved and
these people who say well you have to have the works after you're saved they would have
declared these people unsaved but these people were saved but here's what you'll find when
you talk to people who have that testimony you'll find that this is what they'll say
they'll say you know what during that time that I was saved but not living for God at
all not in church at all you know just no Christian growth maybe maybe haven't even
baptized at all right and you're just it's like they just got saved and nothing else
really if you ask them they'll tell you that the whole time during that time they knew
that they were saved they might have doubted it but in general they knew that they were
Christian they believed in Jesus they believed that they were going to heaven they believed
that Jesus died and buried and rose again that he was the only way to heaven and this
is what they'll also say that they'll say you know and I knew that I wasn't living right
and I felt bad about it you know see the unsaved person they might go out and just enjoy the
party life and whatever and just be maybe even be genuinely happy for a season but you
know if you're a saved born-again child of God and you try to go out and live that sinful
life it's not going to be there anymore it's not going to be the same because you're going
to feel guilty and you're not going to be able to enjoy it and God's going to be chasing
you and chastising you and in your heart you're going to feel empty because of the fact that
you know you have your spirit now that your spirits just fold in his arms like what are
we doing here what are we doing partying like this you know this is not what I want to be
doing it's not where I want to be and you can try to quench the Holy Spirit and you
can try to quench your own spirit but they're still there Holy Spirit's there and your spirit
and but you know the Holy Spirit and your spirit are looking at each other and they're
just shaking their head at the stupid junk that your flashes is leading you to do now
the unsafe person the flash and this and the flash and the and the soul are like yeah let's
party it's great you know whatever and then their dead spirits is like whatever I mean
maybe we can I don't know let's light up some incense later or whatever you know maybe
we'll just confess this to the priest on Sunday it's like you're broken buddy right that's
a messed up spirit but the safe person spirit is going to legit be pulling them in the right
direction okay and so that's another assurance of our salvation is that we as Christians
that are safe we have the ability to live the Christian life we have the desire to live
the Christian life and we have now the tools to live the Christian life because we have
the Holy Spirit and we have our saved spirit and they're going to be pulling us in the
right direction if we allow them to if we put on the new man if we walk in the spirit
if we mortify the flesh and then lastly another way that we know we're saved is because the
Holy Spirit says he's going to guide us into all truth he's going to take of God's Word
and show it unto us well we as saved Christians we can understand the Bible now you know people
who are not saved can't understand the Bible can't understand scripture you ever talk to
people and you keep showing them stuff from the Bible and just all is just going over
their head and you're just like what in the world like you show them one thing just show
them the next thing show them the next thing you know you're probably dealing with an unsaved
person other people that are saved you show them things in the Bible and there's comprehension
there why because the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth and of course some people
are just stubborn and obnoxious and just pretending they don't understand but people that are
saved can understand scripture they can understand the Bible and you know I remember my wife
telling me that she tried to read the Bible before she was saved couldn't understand it
got saved woke up the next morning open the Bible started reading it and said I get it
I understand it she noticed that difference that's that's one of the things about getting
saved as an adult sometimes there's more dramatic difference for you to notice than
me when I got saved when I was six years old you know there's not as much of a dramatic
change there in your mentality my wife is a different person in many ways than she was
before she was saved now the same person from before she was saved is still there too but
now there's a new person right the spirit the new man and so both of those are in play
now as opposed to just the flesh and so I believe that this is a powerful verse that
we should memorize think about understand the spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God this is why it's a totally appropriate question
to say do you know for sure if you were to die today that you'd go to heaven because
if a person is really saved then the spirit itself should be bearing witness with their
spirit that they're the children of God they should be able to do a self check and say
hey what does the Bible say it does it take to get to heaven have I done that yes am I
fully trusting Christ do I believe the record that God gave of his son and do I also have
the inward man the desire and the drive to do right now again unsaved people could confuse
the dead spirit as oh well I you know I want to go to church and I want to do you know
yeah but that could be a misguided dead spirit that's leading you to some wrong church or
some wrong doctrine or wrong view do you understand what I'm saying because again we don't want
to get this radical view that says oh what can a dead man do dead spirit equals you know
spirit just like that's not that's not the dead spirit okay the Bible says that a woman
who who just lives for pleasure is dead while she liveth so it's possible to still live
and do stuff while you're dead you know Calvinists say no but Bible logic the Word of God it
all says yes because we see unsaved people doing all kinds of things and we see unsaved
people putting their faith in Jesus Christ and changing their status from unsaved to
saved all the time in scripture in real life and again not a sermon against Calvinism but
boy would it be fun and so realize that you as a saved Christian now you have the potential to
be a great Christian there is a great Christian inside of you okay don't act like well you know
I'll never be like so I'll never be a great Christian you know I'm just I'm just too worldly
I'm just too carnal I'm just too weak I'm too lame or yeah but somewhere deep down there's there's
this just amazing righteous Christian that's in there somewhere you know and and what you got to
do you just got to activate that spirit and put to death the old man mortify the flesh and and
release the godly Christian within there's no reason why you I don't care what your sinful
past is what your sinful background what stupid things right there's no reason in the world why
you personally can't be a great Christian from here on out it's possible I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me and we got the Bible we got the Holy Spirit we got our own
spirit we can be great Christians and if you don't know if you're saved if you say well I don't know
if I'm saved you know then you need to get saved immediately and just close your eyes and grab
somebody and virtually anyone in this room could get you saved you know because that's the kind of
church this is and so talk to anyone ask anyone for help and they will walk you through it and
they will get you saved right now okay because you want to know for sure you and you want the
Holy Spirit to bear witness with your spirit that you're a child of God as far as in our
order prayer father we thank you so much for your word we thank you for the Holy Spirit Lord but
thank you also for transforming our spirit and giving us a new nature and and and allowing us
to be a godly Christian Lord and and and please help us to take that opportunity and unleash the
godly Christian within and not to just waste our lives by walking in the flesh and gratifying the
flesh but Lord help us rather to take advantage of this new spirit that has been quickened that
has been resurrected in your likeness and Lord God I pray that all of us would serve you because
there's a lost and dying world out there that we need to reach with the gospel Lord help us to be
effective servants of yours and in Jesus name we pray amen