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Assurance through the Spirit of Sonship

Romans 8:14-16

“…if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For 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.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children." (Romans 8:13b-16)

My apologies to all who suffer from dyslexia, but I heard about a dyslexic Christian who was going through a time of great doubt and turmoil in his faith. He sat on his bed awake at night, asking, “Is there a dog? Is there a dog?”

I’m sorry. I think that’s funny.

Dr. Ray Ortlund, Jr., in his book, Supernatural Living for Natural People, writes, “In Romans 8 Paul helps relocate our faith from the dim twilight of man-centered hesitation to the brilliant noonday of God-centered assurance, so that we become whole-heartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him. Confident Christians are battleships surging through the waves. Timid Christians are little corks bobbing up and down and tossed around by every wind and tide. God wants our faith to be steeled with certainty.”

That is why it is so important to read and re-read and study Romans 8 and let it sink into our minds and deep into our hearts. We cannot possibly live the Christian life in hesitation. We are to live confidently out on the edge, out in the vanguard—and the only way to do that is to know the assurance that God offers us.

You can be sure God loves you; you can be sure of your salvation. But we all go through what has been called “the dark night of the soul:” when our faith is small, our doubts are large, and we lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if there is a God at all.

We think that if there is a God, we certainly cannot be saved, for there seems to be little faith in us. God certainly cannot love me, for I am simply unlovable, too sinful, too ugly, too fickle, too stubborn, too me.

How can you know for sure that you are saved? When you are overshadowed by doubt and frustration, how can you find a shred of hope? It doesn’t matter whether you’re a new believer or an old saint—we all may have to fight those uncertainties. Is it based on how much faith I can conjure up? Is it based on how much work I can do to prove I’m saved?

That is what these verses in Romans 8 are all about. And notice what the Bible does not say here: If you were asked, “How do you know for certain that you are a child of God?” How would you answer? I might want to answer, “Because I put my faith in Jesus Christ.” Or, “I went forward at a church camp meeting.” How would you answer?

Now, it is certainly valid to claim salvation based on that moment you claimed faith. But you know what? I need more assurance than my own faith to carry me through in hard times. How can I ever know if my faith is good enough or pure enough or real enough?

We should not place our faith in our faith! That can only cause great turmoil. That is the problem with much of what you see in TV’s preachers. TBN is filled with preachers who want you to place your faith in your faith: “The more faith you have, the more blessing you’ll have.” No. The Bible does not teach to place your faith in faith.

Another answer we might want to give is this: “I believe solid doctrine. I go to a church that teaches correct theology. I know what I believe.” But having a theology more accurate than the next guy does not give assurance of salvation. Doctrinal opinions on this side of heaven are just that: opinions—some more accurate to the truth than others, but all are limited by our finiteness as humans. While we must constantly seek to know the deep things of God, we must be humble enough to say that we do not know all the answers and that there are a lot of gray areas. You may prefer a certain preacher or writer or theologian, but as soon as you find yourself no longer open to having your theological grid challenged and even changed, you are putting faith in men’s doctrines, not God.

In this passage in our Bibles, God does not give any of these standard “assurances of salvation” to us. The assurances, in fact, are not centered in us, but in God! They are God-given assurances. You are a child of God! You are adopted into his family! You are given the privileges of being his child! You are given an inner-assurance that you can call God your “Father!” And all of this is because of what God does!

1. God’s Children are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:13b-14)

“…if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

What does it mean to be “led by the Spirit?” Verse 14 is connected to verse 13 by that word, “because:” Being “led by the Spirit” is “putting to death the misdeeds of the body.” Paul has been consistently clear here in Romans 8: You can not kill off your tendencies to sin in your own natural strength—you must do so “by the Spirit;” you must be “led by the Spirit.” And so, as often is the case in the Scriptures, being “led by God” is not so narrowly defined as God telling you what decisions to make each and every step of your life (that is what many Christians want, I fear, so that they can remain immature babes, never making hard decisions themselves). Being led by the Spirit is God’s work of bringing you to maturity, as you, in the power of the Spirit, in your super-naturalness of being “in the Spirit,” make choices to no longer live in the ways of your fleshly body.

And it is only those who are the “children of God” who are really led by the Spirit. We MUST put the order in the right sequence: 

(1) If you are child of God, then 

(2) you are led by the Spirit, and 

(3) you will put to death the misdeeds of your body by the power of the Spirit. 

Some still put this in the wrong order: The Bible does not teach that 

(1) If you put to death the misdeeds of the body, then 

(2) God will let you be one of His children.

You see, you are saved by God’s grace through faith, not in what you do. And even the faith you have in God is also a gift from him—salvation is all about the grace of God! Whether you are a man or woman, through God’s grace through faith, you become a “son of God.” The reason you are called that is because you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ, the one and only “Son of God!” And when you are “in Christ,” the Son of God, you are a son of god as well.

Let me explain. Here is the BIG PICTURE story of the Bible. —to be in a loving relationship with Him. But humanity rebelled against their Father. So, God called out a special people to be his children—the ancient Israelites. When they were in captivity in Egypt, God called them his “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22). But Israel failed to love the Father, through Jeremiah, he says,

   “I myself said,

        ‘How gladly would I treat you like sons

      and give you a desirable land,

      the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’

         I thought you would call me ‘Father’

      and not turn away from following me.”  (Jeremiah 3:19)

In Hosea, we read God’s sad words concerning Israel:

      “When Israel was a child, I loved him,

      and out of Egypt I called my son.

      But the more I called Israel,

      the further they went from me.”   (Hosea 11:1-2)

Jesus Christ, as the incarnate Son of God, represents all that Israel was meant to be: the obedient Son, the loved Son, the Son who will receive the promised inheritance. In fact, the “son” of Hosea 11:1 is later identified as Jesus in Matthew 12:15, when Jesus’ parents took him and fled to Egypt! But when Jesus was called “out of Egypt,” Jesus moved toward God and his will, he did not (as Israel did) move further away from God.

This is the picture in the New Testament of Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that the People of God were meant to be, but could not be in their own fleshly strength (or better put, their weakness). God still wants a people to be his children, a people he can call “sons of God.” So, when Jesus perfectly fulfilled all that humanity was meant to be, it opened a way for humanity to get back into that Father-son relationship with God: When we put our trust in Jesus, that he is our righteousness (not our own righteousness but his), when we believe that Jesus fulfilled all the demands for perfection on our behalf, then we become God’s children! Not because of what we can do (for we cannot do it!), but because of what Christ has done!

That is why all the promises given to the Old Testament “People of God” are yours as the New Testament People of God—for God’s purpose is, according to Romans 8:29, to conform you and me into the “likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”      

So, your assurance is this: You are God’s child—and you are becoming more and more what you are through the power of the Spirit leading you, because of what Jesus accomplished for you. And all this assurance of your sonship is based on what God has done and is doing in you, not on what you can do in your own strength!

Certainly, I have the responsibility to “put to death the misdeeds of the body,” but that is accomplished by seeking more and more of God—more of his leading, more of his fellowship, more of his mindset, more of his passions within me. It moves my attention away from me, and toward God. 

And it is all because of nothing that we have ever done or could ever do—it is all because of our new deep relationship with God as our Father.

2. God’s Children live in the age of deep relationship with God (Romans 8:15)

"For 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.'"”

Since we are believers in Christ and are living in this New Testament age of the Spirit, we receive from God’s Spirit that “sonship!” In the Old Testament age, the Israelites lived in fear of breaking the Law of Moses. They were constantly under conviction by God’s Spirit. They were lived as slaves to fear. That’s how it was before Jesus appeared and then died on the cross. That’s how it is for anyone today who does not have Jesus Christ as Savior. But we are not to be like that “again”—we are in a new age in which the Holy Spirit is working in a new way, within the hearts of people. This is the age in which the People of God can rightfully call God, “Father.” No longer do we need to suffer the anxiety and fear of judgment which we had in our pre-Christian state.

Instead, we have a sense of peace and security before God, for he no longer is some distant, wrathful divinity, he is our loving Father.

We must not do what the ancient Israelites did with their relationship with God. Even though they had the claim as the ones adopted as sons (Rom. 9:4), they kept God at a distance. They made his name, Yahweh, so sacred that they would not even say it. Every time a reader would come across the name of God in their Scripture, they would substitute the title “Lord” for God’s name Yahweh—creating a distance between themselves and God. But Jesus changed all that. Since he was the Son of God, and since we are in Christ through our faith in him, Jesus tells us that we too can call God Father. Remember, Jesus taught those first followers of his, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father…’”

This would have been shocking to those first followers of Jesus—a bunch of Israelites taught not to be too intimate with God, can call God by a name that is extremely intimate. You see, when Jesus prayed to God, he prayed, “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36). Abba was a very special name that Aramaic-speaking children called their daddies. And that is what Jesus called his Father—Daddy, Father. And now, since you too are a “son of God,” you have that same intimacy. “And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”

If tonight my son Trey were to suddenly call me “Pastor Robinson,” as they used to do at my former church, I’d say to him, “Why do you call me that?”

“Because you are my pastor, and I want to respect you,” Trey might say.

“Yes, I am your pastor, Trey. And I don’t want a title that distances us. More than anything else I’m your daddy. Please call me daddy. I want nothing coming between us!”

Sometimes, we try to do pious things, things that seem more respectful and honoring to God, but in reality we are secretly trying to create a distance between ourselves and God. In our rebellion, we feel that if we can make our relationship with our Father a little more formal, maybe God would not be so close, and I can get away with more. But Jesus wants us to experience the joy of being close our Father, the only source of pure satisfaction.

3. God’s Children are given a deep experiential witness from the Spirit (Romans 8:16)

The third way God assures us that we are his children is that we know it deeply, experientially.

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:16) In other words, not only does the Holy Spirit make us children of God, he also makes us aware that we are children of God.

This is not something you can rationalize. 20th Century Evangelical Christianity in America focused too much on rationalism. We needed “evidence that demands a verdict” for everything. Now, Christianity is certainly rational—it makes sense, it is logically coherent, it is a deep pool in which thinking people can dive and be satisfied. But it is not merely that. It is also experiential. I often get into deep philosophical conversations about religion with people at Starbucks. I can rationalize it all I can with them, but unless they want to experience God, they just won’t get it. Once you realize your thirst, your need for God, and then allow God to satisfy your thirst with the fullness of his love, you get it! You suddenly realize why they sing all those worship songs at church, why people are willing to give up their lives as martyrs for their Lord, why people are so passionate about this Jesus-stuff.

Only those who are God’s children have experienced God pouring his love into our hearts. Only God’s children feel the depth of connection when we sing love songs to God in worship. Only God’s children know that God is their Father because, well, they know it deep in their own spirit.

The intensity of this feeling varies from person to person and from situation to situation and from time to time. It is not a constant feeling of “I’m God’s. I’m his child.” God does not work in pat little formulas. God even allows those “dark nights of the soul,” when you are staring at the ceiling wondering and doubting and struggling.

I can tell you from my own experience, and I have read this from many Christians—it is when your faith is tested that you grow the most. When all is hunky-dory, running smooth and clear, faith has a tendency to wane away. It is in the day-to-day struggle, it is in the times of questioning, it is even in the time of crisis that you find yourself pushed to really trust in God.

When the witness in your heart is faint, hold onto the other assurances—know that your assurance that you are God’s child rests with god, and not in the amount of faith you think you have (or don’t have). And pray as the father of the sick boy did in Mark 9:24, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

What difference would it make if you lived your life in the certainty of knowing you are a child of God—that no matter what, God loves you as his child?

If you are widowed or divorced and feeling lonely, the Holy Spirit testifies to you that you always have One nearer to you than even when you had your own spouse.

If you are married but struggling and discouraged, the Spirit is saying to you that the healing of your marriage begins when your own heart is bathed in the love of God. Allow the love of God to flow into you and to then overflow toward those around you, especially your spouse. When that happens, instead of dwelling on how you’ve been wronged, you are able to forgive and love as God forgives and loves.

If you are single and young and feeling that life is boring and unexciting, you may have watched a little too much TV or a few too many trashy videos that have desensitized you to the love of God. There once was a day when we didn’t feel a need to be entertained every moment of every day—we would stop and meditate and ponder and talk with people in a community that wanted to know and feel God deeper. God wants you to know his love so that you can be on fire for him and what he is doing in the world. There is few things more exciting than a young person impassioned with a cause—willing to be in the vanguard for what is really important.

God wants all of us to be impassioned and confident as his children. God wants our faith strengthened with certainty.

God wants to “relocate our faith from the dim twilight of man-centered hesitation to the brilliant noonday of God-centered assurance, so that we become whole-heartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”

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