The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God:
15 sermons cite this verse
… He gives us a Spirit of sonship by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. And if we're children, that means we're heirs. Heirs with God, co-heirs with Christ. if indeed we may share in his sufferings in order that one day we're gonna share in his glory. He says this world's hard. It's full of suffering. But there's coming a day we're gonna share in his glory. And we know, this is how I close it out. We know in all things, God's working together. Even the hardest things, God's working together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified. What then, Paul says, shall we say in response to this? …
… of the message. You can even lie to him. So these are things that we can do actually to the Holy Spirit. But another thing that the Holy Spirit does is He convinces us that we are children of God. Because the Bible says His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Christian can, the Christian should, and the Christian must know that they are saved. for by grace you have been saved through faith not of works lest any man should boast. That's what the Bible says. You should never doubt your salvation. Some would say, well, no one can know that they're saved. People who are Catholic don't have the assurance of salvation because they have to do certain things each week to sort of maintain that favor with God, receive that grace of God. But the believer who understands Scripture can know that salvation is something that belongs to them. How many of you know you are saved? Raise your hand if you know this. …
… who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear. You received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. And if we're children, we are heirs. Heirs with God. Co-heirs with Christ. If indeed we may share in His sufferings in order that one day we are going to share in his glory. I consider our sufferings, present sufferings do not compare with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits an eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation itself was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, and hope that the creation will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. …
… a Christian—you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship, and by him we cry, Abba, Father. And the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. This, you see, is what it means to be a Christian. People tell me all the time, I had someone tell me in the last 48 hours, you know, I do believe in a higher power. That's all right. I do believe in a great unmoved mover. I do believe in some of the theistic explanations for the universe. Fine, but so does the devil. He's completely orthodox in his belief. You see, you've got these people in these ruined castles—that's their lives—so you take ruined castle plus a belief in an unmoved mover, followed by a bunch of religious externals, and you try and turn that into Christianity. And the people are going, this stinks. Absolutely it does. It can't work. IT HAS NEVER WORKED. But when the Lord Jesus comes to take up residency in our lives, and when we become God's children and as children heirs and as heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ, what a radical transformation that brings. …
… You've got to invite him in like you would any friend. Romans chapter 8, verse 16. The Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit himself, bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Church family, listen, this is so serious. The Bible says right here, the Holy Spirit will confirm to you that you belong to God. If tonight you don't know that, why are you in doubt? You're probably in doubt because you're not a child of God. You may be religious, but a child of God, the Holy Spirit tells them, convinces them, you belong to me. Oh, please research your life and dig deep and find out if this is a reality for you. And if it's not, don't go to sleep tonight. I'm serious. Don't go to sleep. Talk to God. Take a drive. Take a walk. Talk to him and say, God, I want this to be certain. I want to know this verse in my life. The Holy Spirit himself bears witness with my spirit that I'm a child of God. …
Well, there is a word. We'll be coming from Romans 8, verse 14 through 18. And I really encourage you in your free time to definitely study the chapter in its whole, for we will be feeding from it in its entirety. And I ask if you're able to stand as we honor God's reading or the reading of God's holy word. Romans 8 beginning at verse 14. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading you to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. …
In fact, we read over in Romans 8, 16, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. I know I'm a Christian. I know I'm a child of God. You say, why, because you're such a great person? Yes. No, not really. Au contraire, the opposite of that. Despite my shortcomings and my mistakes and my sins, I know I'm God's child because His Spirit confirms it in my heart And you sense that as well, don't you? We're told over in 1 John 5.13, these things we write to you that you may know that you have eternal life because you believed on the name of the Son of God. So let's review. The Holy Spirit comes to bring us to Jesus. He seals us. The Holy Spirit reminds us we're God's children. Here's another one. The Holy Spirit teaches us. John 14.26, the helper, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and will bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. Have you ever had a time where you're just reading the Bible and all of a sudden it just comes alive? A verse just jumps off the page and it speaks to you so directly. That's exactly what you needed to hear. Or has there been another occasion where maybe you're sharing your faith with someone or encouraging or ministering to someone. And suddenly a verse that you don't even remember memorizing jumps into your brain and …
… We've already addressed this. Romans 8, 16 the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God new name, new spirit, new brothers and sisters all throughout the New Testament we're addressed as brothers and sisters in this local church alongside other local churches we have access to the Father's presence oh, so much here remember Exodus chapter 19 God revealing himself as a consuming fire on the mountain the command is stay away from the mountain stay away from the holy presence of God and then you see in Christ everything changed Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 through 16 we have confidence to enter the throne of God confidence to come before God we are not afraid of God in some unhealthy way not afraid of God we are now friends of God friends of God Romans 8 says you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you received the spirit of sonship and by him we cry Abba, Father, not afraid, friends of God, welcomed into the presence of God, access to His presence, and we have an inheritance in the Father's kingdom. …
… way. This is bigger than ever. Father, as your word has gone forth today, as your promise has been reinforced from the pages of your Scripture, as your Spirit has borne witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, I believe by faith that you have been doing an uprooting work in someone's heart. I thank you that, like Caleb, you are capable of blessing us on the other side of our wilderness. Father, you instructed me before I even hit this pulpit today to pray for the person whose bitterness is blocking out their blessings. You showed me clearly that if they don't get rid of that, if they don't get it out of them, they're going to keep responding the wrong way and blaming you for the result. Father, today we come before you like Caleb came before Joshua. We thank you that you've kept us alive. We thank you that our inheritance is not dependent on our obedience but the obedience of Jesus. We thank you that he who gave his Son for us will also freely give us all good things as an inheritance. …
… And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, we are heirs, heirs with God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we may share in his sufferings in order that one day we are going to share in his glory. How about when things aren't working out the way they're supposed to, when Romans 8, 28 comes to our hearts and says, in all things, our God works together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. How about when we're facing those insurmountable, seemingly insurmountable trials, and Romans 8 says, if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? How about when that husband or wife leaves, or when the mom or dad is no longer in the house and God whispers to our hearts that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation that can ever separate you from my love. …
… we have to understand that our inheritance first starts with our identity, that our inheritance from God. I want to go to Romans chapter 8, verses 14 through 17. And to contextualize this question, And part of the reason why they're asking about our spiritual inheritance is because I talked about the inherited traits that we receive biologically and how we are predisposed to certain types of traits. But also recognizing that in our spiritual inheritance that we have some powers and authority and offerings that only come from our relationship with God through Jesus that allows us to have power and strength and peace. And so Romans 8 chapters 14 through 17 says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. Okay, let's take a minute and just let that marinate for a minute. So if we talk about living according to the flesh, of course, we talk about the spirit versus the flesh in church a lot. And, you know, you got to kill your flesh. …
… He says, as Christians, we enjoy the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Remember how he puts it in Romans 8? He says, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God when we cry, Abba, Father, Abba, Father. Now, the non-Christian never cries Abba, Father. You ever been with a non-Christian in a time of crisis, a religious, devoted non-Christian in a time of crisis? The highest they will cry is, O God. They do not instinctively cry, Father. Do you know the really interesting thing about Paul's language there in Romans 8? The verb he uses, even if you didn't know any Greek, you would be able to tell what this verb means. It's the verb kradzine, and it's onomatopoeic. It sounds like what it means. It's a sharp cry. It's the cry of Jesus on the cross. That's the verb that's used, a loud cry in weakness and frailty. What's the point of saying that? It's saying that this assurance we are God's children does not belong to us only when we're at our highest and our best and everything going swimmingly. …
… Is there anybody else adopted in here? The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And wait, wait, stay right there. I got to stay there for a minute. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. That's so good. This is important because it's going to be where I'm going tonight. The Spirit of God talks to the spirit of man. You are a spirit. You have a soul. You live in a body. So the Spirit of God beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. You don't have to run around asking the prophet, am I saved? because the Spirit of God talks to your spirit and tells you you are saved. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are, in fact, the children of God. We might not look like Him. We might not have ways like Him. We may not bear all the fruit of the Spirit, but the Spirit itself is saying, don't worry about that. …
… but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, Abba, Father, it is that very spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If in fact we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8 reminds us that we're free. Romans 8 reminds us we are alive. And in this segment, do me a favor, touch yourself and say, I'm an heir. I'm an heir. Within these verses that I've just read, Paul makes allusion to one of the most beautiful and the deepest components of salvation that is arguably one of the most neglected. Within these verses, Paul makes mention of the pneuma weothasea, the spirit of adoption. And what Paul argues in no uncertain terms is that when we accept Christ into our lives, God has literally adopted us and brought us into his family. to understand the pneuma we oath to see it to understand the power and the beauty of the spirit of adoption i need you to understand what adoption meant in ancient roman civilization the same way we understood no condemnation by looking at the roman judicial system in order to really understand the beauty and the depth and the power of what paul means when he says we've been adopted, I need you to understand some things about Roman adoption. Remember, correct study of the Bible suggested if we want to understand what something means, …
… through him, we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. so it's it's it's the same idea of in the spirit through the spirit by means of the spirit our spirit cries out abba father Okay, how in the world do you outline that? How do you explain how this happens? there's some mystery to this i can't tell you why like like when i was studying that passage and i'm this is just a few weeks ago i'm just just reading it and and then suddenly just everything in me i just i literally just start sobbing and i'm just going daddy daddy like everything in me just wanting that perfect father just like oh daddy abba abba just just there's just that hunger in me longing for this perfect dad to make me feel perfectly secure and protected and everything in me is like oh you're my father you're my dad i'm just crying enjoying him going oh it's so good i just love being with you father and yet hallowed be thy name So this sacred, unapproachable, amazing God, and yet here I am crying out, Abba, Father, just loving being in his presence. …