Romans 8:14
"For as many (or all of you) as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
Listen,
that's very exclusive to us. Of course we are, because the Bible is!
And what's it excluding here? Lost and unbelieving people are not led by
the Spirit of Christ but are in line for the influence of the Holy
Spirit. They're out there on their own under the power of the god of
this world, the prince of the power of the air. They
can become lead of the Holy Spirit, but what does that require? The
placing of their trust in Him through our sharing His revelation in
Spirit and in Truth. But true believers are led by the Spirit of God.
He'll train us in the way we are to go as we're all required to be on
the same path which Christ and Paul took. That's one of the indications
that we have true redemption which leads or brings us to and through
salvation by way of the Holy Spirits doing.
Here's a good question. "How can I know that I'm truly saved?"
It's a good question. There are several ways: 1. Do you have a hunger
for the Word of God? If not we doubt if there's any true salvation
because it just follows like daylight following dark, that when we
become a child of God we hunger after His Word. 2. Do you enjoy being
with God's people? Those of the same mind who are of one accord with
you, though opinions may differ some what. If you don't, then there's
something wrong and we would re-examine our so-called salvation
experience. 3. Do you enjoy prayer time, and taking your needs to the
Lord? If not, we doubt if there's any relationship there. 4. And lastly
have you separated yourself from religion and the spirit of the world in
the power of the resurrection and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
If not re-examine yourself because just like the Hebrews and Abraham
when we truly become one with Him we're no longer our own. In other
words we no longer follow the ways of religion or the spirit of the
world which are darkness and unbelief. Lawlessness.
But whatever, it's a thing of the heart and we can't look on the
heart nor can anyone else, but we can self-examine. It's Peter who wrote, "make your call and election sure."
Well, what did he mean by that? Don't work a little harder, but just
simply on the light of Scripture, examine yourself. Are you just
depending on something that you have done, or are you depending on a
solid faith in this Gospel of Grace wherein the power of God has been
exercised? And when that happens, here it comes, as we saw in Galatians
and now here in Romans, the Holy Spirit comes into our life and He
begins to lead and guide and direct us to the place where we don't have
to have rules and regulations. The Spirit does that. Now here again, if
we're led by the Spirit of God then we are the sons, or the divinely
born ones of God. That's one of the proofs of sure footing. Now let's go
to verse 15 and again he's talking to believers here.
Romans 8:15
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to (what?) fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father."
Believers
don't have to walk around in constant fear. We have respect for God and
we revere Him, but we don't have to fear Him. Because we know He loves
us. Paul reveals that we have Peace with God and have entered into His
Rest when we've learned and acted upon His perfect Will. Which is
required of all those who become the willing ones.
Now,
we'll never forget a friend of ours, who gave us a tape of some
pastor's Sunday morning sermon. We learned a bunch from it. And that was
that in John Chapter 13, where Jesus was dealing with Martha and Mary
and Lazarus, all through that chapter, it wasn't how much Lazarus and
Mary loved Jesus, but what was it? How much He loved them!
It was an eye-opener! This is what people have to realize. It isn't
dependent upon how much we love Him, although we're certainly going to
love Him. But you see, the thing that's important is that we realize how
much He loves us! Enough to die and suffer for us to become our trail
blazer, our captain. Now then, when we have that kind of a salvation,
the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. We know that we've surrendered our will for His Will and we've
received His cup.
Now do you see how that
flies in the face of these people who say you can never really know?
They say you can hope so or you can try and do the best you can, or that
I'm an old sinner saved by grace but you'll never really know? That's
not what my Bible says. Our Bible makes it so plain and yours is no
different than anybody else's. It makes it so plain that we can know that we have passed from death unto newness of Life. And here is another one. It's the witness of the Holy Spirit that we have
that promised salvation. That which Israel rejected and all who
practice as she still reject in like manor because of hardness of heart
or unbelief. We have the witness that we are children of God. Now let's look at verse 17.
Romans 8:17
"And if children, (true sons of God by virtue of our saving faith and the revelation of the Last Suppers hidden secret now made known) then heirs;
(not of some rich grandfather, or of some corporation president with
millions and millions of shares. We've got something far greater) heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
That's
just what it says in Galatians. We are heirs of God and now to bring it
even tighter, we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, “IF” “we suffer
with Him”. Now, we don't have to tell adults like you what it is to be a
joint-heir. If any of you own a home or property and both of you are
owners, what are you? You're joint-heirs. You both have rights to that
property. If one of you passes off the scene, the property belongs to
the one that's left behind, regardless of which one goes first. Now the
whole concept of joint heir-ship is part and parcel of the Christian
experience. We are heirs of God because we are joint-heirs with Jesus
Christ. That may mean we will suffer with Him and we will also
experience that glorification with Him. In other wards we'll receive as
He received glorification at His ascension. Now back to Galatians once
again. And verse 7 is in complete agreement with Romans chapter 8.
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