Assurance of Salvation
July 10, 2022 • Caleb Savari • Romans 8:12–17
Audio Transcript:
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Our good, unchangeable, immutable God. Father you are gracious, you are merciful, you are slow to anger and you abound in steadfast love. Father I specifically pray for those who are not saved that hear this message. Maybe they're here, or maybe they're listening to it online. God I pray that the truth in the words that you have for us this morning prick their hearts, that it softens their hearts. God that you shine your light into their darkened souls that they may be awoken into the beauty of a life with you.
And God for us who say that we are believers, God help us understand and rest in the assurance of salvation that's presented in this text. Give us an understanding to know that we are children. God help our spirits cry out to you in rejoicing by the truth that you have in this word. Show us that your Spirit is leading us to the end goal of glorification, assure us this morning of our peace with you and our sealed promise of everlasting life in your presence, in Jesus name. Amen.
Really is truly a privilege to speak to all of you this morning, I'm really excited to talk about Romans 8. I've actually been meditating on this scripture for about a month. The pastors told me that I was going to be preaching and this was my text. And so it's been a month now, and I've done a lot of research. In the last week, as things were starting to get put together and I was formulating the finality of this sermon, I was unable to sleep because when I finally went down to sleep, my mind just kept thinking of more things to say.
I'm really excited if even just to be able to sleep this coming week, but I've got some really good news to share with you today. In fact, I think it's the best part of the good news. Pastor Shane mentioned in Romans 8 that, or mentioned that Romans 8 is known as the inner sanctuary within the cathedral of the Christian faith. I would argue that this section that we're going to read today is the reason that it's called that. It summarizes the chapter thus far, it introduces this beautiful truth of our current and eternal standing with God.
And all of that's going to be furthered and concluded in the rest of this chapter with a glorious portion that Pastor Shane has also coined the party passage. I think this is the pinnacle of the gospel. I think this is the crowning jewel for a believer, because not only does God save us from his wrath against our sin, but then he adopts us and he gives us an inheritance, we're now called heirs of God, we're called heirs with Christ. We are called the children of God.
With that said, let's read Romans 8:12 to 17. If you have your Bibles, please turn to that passage. If not, it'll be up here on the screen. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba Father." The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
I think the best way to kick things off is to give you a quick summary of this passage. I don't have a big outline, three points that you were accustomed to. I have one point, it's a beautiful passage and we're going to pick it apart. And I'm going to give you all the different facets of how it is presented, but I want to make sure we understand the overall meaning. And it is this, you are a child of God. And being a child of God, you will be led by the Spirit of God to slay the sin that is in your life.
You will be led by the Spirit of God in your walk, as you're tossed about in the storms of this life. And all of that is done in order to reach the hope that is set before you. And that is an inheritance from God. Believers in this passage are given three names, three names of our new identity, of our position before God that have profound meaning and they should give us a full assurance of our salvation. The Apostle Paul builds his case for our assurance sequentially through these three names, through the use of transitional clauses.
Now the transitions are not if, then statements, which would make us question whether or not we were actually in God's family at all. For example, if you have good taste in movies, then you agree objectively, that The Lord of the Rings is the best trilogy ever made. Oh yeah. Now this disagreeing with the second half would make you question whether or not you actually had good taste in movies. That's not what's happening here. These statements are therefore statements, A is true, therefore B is true.
And don't forget The entire theme of this passage is, a full assurance of your salvation. With that said, the first thing that we're called is debtors. Verse 12 begins by saying that we are debtors, but not to the flesh. As we've covered in previous weeks, the Apostle Paul uses the word flesh to embody a person who dwells in the realm of the flesh. Those who are weakened by the sinful nature, those who are powerless to uphold the law.
And remember the context that we just came from. Chapter six, chapter seven, we established that there are two reigning powers of humanity state before Christ came on the scene in the likeness of flesh, and that's sin and the law. We can call these the powers of the old regime and they are two sides of the same coin. I'm not saying that sin and the law are the same thing, by no... In fact, Paul already made mention of this in chapter seven verse seven, when he says, "What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means."
Well, how then are they the same coin? Well, they both lead to eternal separation from Christ. This is the point of the last few chapters, whether we live to be justified in our own desires or we live to be justified by fulfilling the law, we are without grace of God. Paul writes specifically to the Galatians about this. They were struggling with how to incorporate the laws and the expectations that are found in the Old Testament with their new identities as believers of Christ.
The Galatian church specifically was dealing with the false teaching of circumcision as a requirement for justification. Let's take a step back, I just used the term justification. If you're unfamiliar with that word, the Bible talks about salvation in three ways. It says justification, sanctification and glorification. We're going to talk about all three of those today because our passage hints at all three of them, but let's first start with justification.
Justification is that which justifies us, makes us righteous, presents us as unblemished and perfect before the judge, God. Paul is saying in Galatians, that circumcision does not matter in justification. Let's read Galatians 5:1-6. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.
I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision, that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
It's not circumcision that justifies you. In fact, it doesn't count for anything. In saying, I, Paul, say to you, Paul is using his own credentials as a Pharisee of Pharisees, a Jew of Jews, a teacher of the law to say that one of the foundational elements of the Old Testament, a consecration to the law counts for nothing. What does count however, is faith working through love. By grace through faith, we are justified. By the grace of God, Christ takes on our sin at the cross, pays the penalty for our wickedness. In turn, we receive his perfection, we are clothed and robed with his robes.
Now this is grace, this is justification. We are not as Paul writes to the Galatians, obligated... Keep the whole law. And the word for obligated is the same word that's found in our text for debtors, debtors to the law, obligated to keep the whole law, a debtor to God through the law. Paul's argument in both cases is, that's not who we are. We as believers owe nothing to the flesh, for in fact, we've died to the law and Paul speaks about this in Roman 7, where he says, "But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old ways of the written code."
What's also interesting to note from this passage in Galatians is that there's a similar wording being used to describe this obligation to the law. In Galatians, Paul mentions a yolk of slavery, but in our text, he calls it a spirit of slavery. in Romans Paul's warns us not to fall back into fear, whereas in Galatians, he says to fall away from grace. These are the same concepts, you put them together and you get the spirit of slavery is a yolk, a burden that keeps you in fear and away from God's grace.
Romans 8:13. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. So then, we are not debtors to the flesh, but if not to the flesh, then to what? Well, Paul begins in verse 12 by saying, so then, which tells us that he's saying that we are debtors in light of the previous statement. So let's backtrack Romans 8:11. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then brothers, we are debtors.
We're not debtors to the flesh, but if we put to death the flesh through the Spirit, we will have life. We're not debtors to the flesh, but we are debtors to the Spirit. We're not debtors to God through the law, but we are debtors to God through grace. And we sing hymn quite often here at Mosaic called, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And perhaps you've missed the beautiful writing that's in this hymn that speaks to this theological truth.
It says, "O to grace, how great a debtor. Daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy grace now like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee." We are a debtor to grace and the writer here begs God that grace will act as some kind of chain as a restraint to keep his heart from wandering from God. He continues by saying of his heart, it's prone to wander, prone to leave the God that he loves.
How are we supposed to deal with the heart that wanders from the God that we love? How does this enactment of grace binding work? Well, if we look back to Tyler's sermon last week, it points us to say that we need to side, We need to submit and we need to live in the Spirit. And if you haven't listened, or you haven't watched that sermon, I encourage you to do so, because it leads us to say that we do this side, submit and live in the Spirit by putting sin to death through the Spirit. See, verse 13 is very clear, it says, "If by the Spirit you put to death, the deeds of the body, you will live."
And this is the synergistic concept of sanctification that pastor Jan talked about a few weeks ago. Sanctification, the second element of salvation. Sanctification is the word that we use to speak of a life of a believer between justification and glorification. It's a spiritual walk that we go through after the moment we repent and believe until we are reunited with Christ. This is the process where God leads us ever closer to his throne. The process where we are refined, this is where we grow to imitate Christ more and more.
In this verse, we also see the first transitional clause. You are debtors, therefore you are led by the Spirit. The Apostle Paul lays out the way in which we live. He says, "We slay our sin through the power of the Spirit so that we may abide it in the Spirit." Let me say that again, we slay our sin through the power of the Spirit so that we may abide in the Spirit. You see, it begins, is sustained by and ends with the Spirit working. And yet in this process, we're actively pursuing that in which we are led to do.
We don't control the Spirit as a tool, but we are empowered. We are enabled by the Spirit to do the things that we know we should do, but we don't actually do that. We cannot do. And the statement here of put to death, that's a present calling to believers. The one who lives in the Spirit does this in perpetuity. Meaning, that the scripture always applies to the life of a believer while they are here on this earth, it's present, it's persistent. The theologian, John Murray puts it like this, "The believer's once-for-all death to the law of sin does not free him from the necessity of mortifying sin in his members; it makes it necessary and possible for him to do so."
The ability to put to death the flesh, that's a result of the Spirit impelling you forward in sanctification, your daily progression in the faith. And this is a proof of your adoption. Verse 14 lays out the second, therefore statement. You are led by the Spirit and therefore, you are sons of God. And therein we find the second name that we are called, sons. Romans 8:14-16, says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
You may have noticed it says sons, it doesn't say child. That's on purpose. The Greek word here specifically emphasizes the maleness of this pronoun. Now it does mean in the larger context that we are children of God, but it says sons for two reasons, specifically. Firstly Israel, God's chosen people were called sons of God in the Old Testament. Exodus 4, then you shall say to Pharaoh, "Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first born son." This is also the case in Isaiah and Hosea.
It should make us see that we are also God's chosen people, his elected people, God chose Jacob, not Esau, therefore he also chose you. But secondly, and most importantly, Paul is making the case that we are sons in relation to being hidden under the son. If you recall, Romans 1, Paul writes that Jesus is the son of God. He now says that we are welcomed into that same relationship. Take a look at Romans 8:17, it says we're heirs with Christ. Or even if you look at the word that Paul uses to describe how we should cry out to God. He says Abba, Father.
There's only one other person in scripture that has used that kind of identification with God. Paul's referring to the way that Jesus himself would speak to the father. We now have that same relationship, that same status, that same fellowship with God. You see there's a likeness of the son which is brought up here. In a similar way, how the son came in the likeness of flesh to condemn the flesh, we now have been redeemed from that, made in the likeness of the son to be united with the father.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 to be perfect as God, our father is perfect. Peter referring to Leviticus says, "Be holy as God is holy." See, we are like Christ in our whole person, We are a reflection of the father just as Christ is. We are representatives, a holy nation, a beacon of light into this world that declares the glory of the father. I know it sounds difficult, extremely intimidating. I know I fail, I know I have sin in my own life. How am I supposed to be like Christ?
Let me answer that by telling you how good our father is. As Pastor Shane brought up in verses one through four, God has an unconditional love. He loves his children unconditionally. Now see, there may be kindness poured out to all others, but there's a special relationship, a special desire and a special responsibility that he gives to himself by calling you his child.
James 4:5 says, "He yearns jealously over the Spirit that he has made to dwell in us." God is so concerned with our wellbeing, with our overall state, that James goes to the extent of saying that God is jealous over you. Now, normally we save what I'm about to say for the end of the sermon, but I think it's really appropriate to do it here. As we talk about being a child of God, Paul makes it clear that he says if, in verse 17, he's stating that not all people are children.
So if you are not a believer, if you have not repented of your sin, if you haven't submitted to Christ as Lord, as your savior, if you haven't come to the cross, sought forgiveness, redemption, restoration from your brokenness. I ask you to do that. I plead with you to seek God's face, to turn from worshiping the things of this world, the created things and turn to he who is creator. What we're talking about is the greatest joy, the most comforting truth, and the reason for hope. But this is only given to those of us who are in God's family and only those who are in God's family.
This is an incredibly deep fact of love, not only did God come and show us love by sacrificing himself for us, but he sacrificed himself for those of us who were his enemies. We were all his enemies, he sacrificed himself, then we are wiped clean, adopted, not only adopted, but now heirs to an inheritance. And he assures us of all of this by leading us, by adopting us, by testifying to us. Do you remember in Exodus when the Israelites were led out of Egypt, they were led by a pillar of fire and smoke?
They were brought from slavery and into Canaan, the land of inheritance through the promises made to Abraham. Likewise, we have an internal compass. That's the Holy Spirit. We also have external compasses through the word of God and through the Holy Spirit, working in other people. And this is the importance of community. This is why we have community groups at Mosaic. There are to do the one others that scripture talks about, to bear with one another, to keep each other accountable, to help each other walk down the narrow way.
The Spirit works to bring us from slavery and in sin. We walk towards the land of inheritance, the new Jerusalem, empowered and enabled through the Spirit. The Spirit leads us to draw closer to God. We see this when we delight in his word, when we desire to know more of God, to love him more, to be in fellowship, to be in step with him, to serve his children, to partner in us. Hebrew puts it, bringing many sons to glory.
Are you being led closer to the father and to Christ? Does your longing for eternity in fellowship with them deepen with each passing day, with each passing season in your life? Can you look back on your life and see the Spirit bring about the obedience of your faith? If you are a believer, the answer is yes. If you are a child of God, the only answer is yes, that's the point of this passage. It's to stir you up with the knowledge that you are a child of God, that he's leading you by his Spirit, that you are covered by his son, that you will share in the inheritance that the father has promise. That's the point.
Now there's no condemnation for you because you are hidden in the son, in the son's likeness, you should want to do the things that please God. See, we believers desire the things of heaven because we are children of our father who is in heaven. Like father like son. And all of this should lead us to cry out Abba, Father. This is a declaration of rejoicing at our adoption, of rejoicing at the inheritance that has been promised.
See, we were one slaves, but now we're children. The Roman church knows exactly what Paul's saying when he says slavery to fear. See, the Roman slave system was threefold, whips, hooks, and the cross. They would've seen, they would've heard, they would've experienced the punishment and the fear of slaves. And Paul is saying that without Christ, you are slaves to fear. A fear of God's wrath, a fear of the impending doom of judgment before the law, the same fear that Adam felt in the garden, a sinful man and the presence of a holy God.
Believers are no longer slaves to fear, we're no longer condemned to face God's wrath because Christ has born that for us. We're now welcomed into God's family and we can personally call God our father. You can call him father and he will listen, that in itself should be proof enough of your adoption. The apostle goes on further and he says that God's Spirit in our own spirit testify to this adoption. Let me list out how this is played out.
Firstly, the word, the written word that we have is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And it tells us of our adoption, it tells us of God's love for us. Secondly, the Holy Spirit testifies and affirms that the authenticity of that word is true. The Spirit tells you that what it wrote is true. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit ministers to our spirits, our souls, that we are God's children. In fact, if we look back on our own life, we should be able to testify that we are his. We can look back and see how God has orchestrated our life, how God has walked before us, how he is currently leading us.
Look at the Psalms, it always talks about you are faithfulness because I've seen your faithfulness. Psalm 37 says, "I have been young and now I'm old yet, I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He's ever lending generously and his children become a blessing." So since we are children of God, we are therefore heirs. And this also is another name that Paul gives to us, heirs of God, the word heir alludes to receiving an inheritance. And this is the hope that we hold.
And this hope as Paul says in Romans 5, doesn't put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. The Holy Spirit is the seal of our inheritance. Not only is it the seal, but God himself has guaranteed it because he's an unchanging God. He is immutable in his nature. Paul says to Titus, "For the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began."
Or even if you look in the sixth chapter of Hebrews, the writer speaks to the inheritance as so assured because God is unchanging. And because he who does not lie has promised two unchangeable things that give us strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that is set before us. And here we see the third element of salvation, glorification. For now we see through a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. But this is a time to come when we are perfect as God is perfect in the resurrected body like Christ.
This is where the completion of the salvific work is seen. Christ doesn't, sorry, Christianity doesn't promise full resolution in our life now, there is some, right? That's why we're called children, that's why this Spirit helps us, that's why this Spirit leads us, but the full resolution of our belief is in this hope. In what's to come, in this inheritance from God. He has promised this inheritance to his children and because he has promised it, a child cannot be robbed of it.
Look at what Peter says in his first epistle, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So here you have after being justified, a promise of inheritance, which is kept in heaven until the right time. And in the meantime, God is guarding you through faith for the fullness of salvation to take effect.
After you are justified, God has promised your glorification, and through that time, he will sanctify you to reach that point. As we've covered, not everybody receives this, only a child. So the question a person could ask themselves is, am I a child of God? But as this passage in Romans is not about questioning of faith, as I mentioned before, this is about the assurance of your salvation. The more correct and deeper truth to understand is this.
Since you are a child of God, if indeed you are, you have been given assure and unchanging hope. So there's no need for fear, there's no need for anxiety. In fact, we should be reminding ourselves of Romans 8:38 and 39, it says, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, no rulers, nor things present, nor things come, nor powers, height, nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing will be able to separate us.
But that doesn't mean there won't be pain. It doesn't mean there won't be suffering. See, we are called heirs and therefore we will face suffering. Look at verse 17, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. There's a reason that Paul introduces the command to not fall back into slavery of fear. Suffering shouldn't frighten us. In fact, suffering is a characteristic of your life.
Christ said, "Pick up your cross, follow me." And we look to Christ, the one who suffered the man of sorrows. And since we are sons in the likeness of the son, in the likeness of Christ, so our lives should also mirror him in living righteously. And when you live this way, you will suffer. And if we like him suffer for the sake of righteousness, because we have the identity as children of God, then we like him will be resurrected and we will be glorified.
John 15 says this, "If the world hates, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me."
We are a colony of heaven, living in a hell dominated world. We are children of God, living in a world that is ruled by the prince of the power of the air. But the mindset of a Christian should be that of peace that surpasses all understanding. And the peace of God, this is the full assurance of our salvation, the full assurance of our adoption, the full assurance that God promises to his children. And he leads us to say that we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.
It's by this strength, working through the Spirit that we mortified, that we slay. We put to death, our sinful nature, the deeds of the flesh. God is working in us all things to bring about the obedience of faith in us, to bring many sons to glory. Hebrews 12 says, "It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
So through all this suffering, we feel the pangs of childbirth. I can still remember how much of a struggle labor was for my wife, all 22 hours of labor, all 12 hours of intense labor. I was there. I saw the progression of nine months, the burdens and the struggles of this baby that was being knit in the womb. But I also remember the joy of seeing his face Friday morning, my wife and I knew that all of the suffering, all of the pain, most of which she had to do was worth it because of this little face.
And that's the same way we're told to think of glorification, we endure the pain and the suffering now, because what is coming from it is so much better. And it's endurance that characterizes our sanctification. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10, you will be hated by all for my names sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. Our inheritance should calm all anxiety, it should calm all fear, it should answer most, if not all our questions on how we should live, on who we are. It should comfort us to receive discipline, to receive chastisement because it is proof that we are the children of God.
You see these verses are written to strengthen, to encourage the Christian that suffering is producing in you the end goal of your hope. And we look forward to the true land, the true promised land, just like the biblical heroes of old, who all sought the kingdom whose foundation was designed and build by God himself. 1st Peter says, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Though you have not seen him, you love him though. You do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." So therefore you children of our father in heaven, heirs of God, heirs with Christ, you are led to slay the deeds and desires of your flesh, abide in the good shepherd, in his leading, whether he leads you through valleys of shadow and death or to green pastures.
For you are guided to the end goal of the inheritance which he has promised, to a kingdom that has foundations that are built and designed by God. Yes, there will be pain. Yes, there will be suffering, but our God is a good God who can deliver us from temptation. He is a light which darkness cannot overcome, a mighty fortress which cannot be broken. So rest in him, be assured of your identity now as a child of God and in the inheritance which he has promised that will come. By that assurance may you being led by the Spirit, put to death sin now, and every day until you are reunited with your father.
Let's pray. Father how gracious and merciful you are, to make us your children, to give us the inheritance of heirs because of the work of Christ, to provide us a home in which to live with you for eternity. God we are in your debt forever. Help us be the people that you call us to be, help us be a holy nation, the imitators of Christ, the reflection of our father. God break our heart for what breaks yours, give us the vision to see where we are failing. Give us the assurance to know that we are more than conquerors through Christ.
And that through the leading of your Spirit, it is both necessary and possible to slay our sin, to mortify the deeds of our flesh. You O God are the author and the finisher of our faith, and it's in your hands. Your unchanging, your unwavering hands that we place our trust, that we place our faith, that we place our lives in order to guide us ever closer to your throne. Abba, Father, help us live in a man worthy of being called a child of God. We pray this in the name of the son in whom we are heir in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.