Good morning everyone.
It’s good to be back together today and to have an opportunity to worship the Lord and look into His word. If you would, you can turn with me to the book of Romans. We are in chapter 8, and there are three verses that we will examine today, starting at the 14th verse: Romans 8:14.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
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.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
Prayer
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we approach the scripture this morning, I pray that You grant us the understanding which can only come by the Holy Spirit leading us to understand the truth. Let Your word be a comfort to us. May it shine a light on our path and allow us to see more clearly. I ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The passage of scripture I have read here this morning is a fairly well-known passage, one I am sure most of us are familiar with. It is set here within the 8th chapter and is an important point of transition. Paul has been pointing to the fact that if we have the Holy Spirit within us, we can be assured that we have passed from death unto life. We can be assured that we have life eternal. And even though at this moment we are a work in progress, the fact the work has begun in us is enough for us to have certainty it will be completed. The real climax of that explanation came in verse 11, where Paul said that if we have the Holy Spirit, we have an assurance of the resurrection. Regardless of whatever else might befall us, regardless of what circumstances we may face in the here and now, we have a promise of life eternal with God that cannot be broken.
Through that, Paul pointed over and over again to the Holy Spirit within us as being the source of our certainty. But here in these verses, he is no longer speaking about the benefits of having the Holy Spirit; he is telling us a way in which we can actually know that we have the Holy Spirit. It’s good to know all the benefits that come with having the Holy Spirit, but how do you actually know whether you have the Holy Spirit?
As we look through scripture, it gives us a number of tests or ways in which we can know that we have the Holy Spirit. In these verses, Paul is giving us one of those ways in which we can have certainty that the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us.
I find it very interesting, after speaking of being led by the Spirit, that this is the example and the means Paul gives us to examine ourselves to see if we have the Holy Spirit. Let me just read the three verses again, starting at verse 14.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
It is very straightforward. If you are following the Spirit of God that is dwelling within you, you are a son or daughter of God. The Holy Spirit within us proves who and what we are. Verse 15:
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.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
So there is something here in what Paul is describing that is a witness to us—a witness that we are truly sons and daughters of God. Not in the general sense that we are all His creations, but in the redeemed sense, that we have been adopted into His family.
I like how Paul puts it here. This Spirit of adoption, which is the Holy Spirit, has not come to put us into bondage and fear. It is not like the law; it’s not here to condemn us. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit will not do that to us. But when that Holy Spirit is dwelling within, it will lead us to do something. It will cause us to cry, Abba, Father. And Abba, that means Father, but it is more like saying, Daddy. It’s not the formal word for Father; it is the term a child uses to address their Father. Daddy.
But ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. That word, “whereby,” is very important. Whereby. Paul is letting us know that it is the Holy Spirit within us that is enabling us to make this cry. This cry is itself evidence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within.
The fact we cry out to God proves we are His children. A baby cries for its parents, and we cry out to God. And the fact we cry to God is proof He is our Father. And this we would not do unless we had the Spirit of adoption. The apostle John said we cannot say Jesus Christ is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. For these things to genuinely flow from our hearts to our lips is evidence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within, because it is not possible to call Jesus Lord. It is not possible to cry Abba, Father, in a genuine way, unless the Holy Spirit is dwelling within.
We know in our hearts if we are genuinely calling out to God for help. It is possible to say words and not really mean what we are saying. A person can lie. But we know in our heart if we are genuinely calling out to the Lord as our Savior, as our help. We genuinely know if we are calling out to God as a child seeking the help of our Heavenly Father. And if we are doing that, that itself is proof we are children of God. And more so, it is proof we have the Spirit of God in us, because the apostles tell us we would only call out in such a way if we had the Spirit dwelling within.
Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
Paul tells us this is how the Spirit of God bears witness to us that we are children of God. The fact we call out to Heavenly Father, and we look to Him as our help, as someone we are expecting to hear our cry and answer us, is proof we are His children.
As you think about that, this crying out is not necessarily something that feels positive. When a person cries out, they are not necessarily feeling happy. There can be a variety of emotions going on when a person cries out. Sometimes you can cry out in joy. Other times you may cry out in sorrow or pain. The cry out to our Father is not something necessarily that is coming from a source of overwhelming joy, but it is directed at the One we expect to hear us and help us.
And when you cry out, there will be an emotion behind it. That is baked into the very definition of crying out. Something significant has happened, causing us to cry out. You don’t cry out for no reason, but something has caused you to cry out. Sometimes it can be out of a place of thankfulness, of joy, of happiness, or it could be a cry coming out of a time of turmoil, of sorrow, or of need.
What I am getting at here is that it is not the specific emotion or the specific reason we are crying out to God that proves we are His children, but it is the cry itself, regardless of the circumstances.
And the whole thing—the act of crying out, the feeling within us—that bears witness that we are children of God. The fact that we do that, that we turn to God, that we cry out to Him, shows that we recognize our Father. It is something baked into our inner being that causes us to do that. As a natural response to circumstances, we cry out to God.
I really love how Paul puts this, and I love how Paul shows us that crying out to God is proof of the Holy Spirit.
You know, there are many people who don’t believe that this is proof of the Holy Spirit. There are people, and we have all met such people—they call out to God, they beg God, they cry to Him endlessly. Every Sunday, they are at the altar asking to get the Holy Spirit, and their heart is totally genuine. They recognize God for who He is. They realize He is their only hope, and they cry out to Him, evidencing what is within them.
But they have never had a preacher tell them the truth. They already have the Holy Spirit. That cry within you is proof you have received the Spirit of adoption. The problem is not that you don’t have the Holy Spirit; the problem is men have lied to you about the whole thing, and you have not been taught the Bible. You have not been taught that a genuine cry out to God is proof in itself that you have the Spirit of adoption.
Because it is the Spirit itself whereby we make such a cry.
And what I like about Paul’s explanation here is that he goes on to tell us this groaning, this crying out to God, will go on until our body is redeemed and we leave this present world. He has been talking about these cries and groanings since the last chapter. In some ways, these groanings and cries will last our entire life on this earth. Life is not going to be perfect until we are living in the world to come. We are going to face struggles and challenges. We are going to face moments of groaning, seasons where we cry out to God for all manner of things.
And so, the proof that we have the Holy Spirit is not based on us getting an immediate answer back from God concerning the things we cry out about, but the proof is in the cry itself. The fact we cry out to our Father is proof we have received the Spirit of adoption.
And if we want one example of what that looks like, we need only to look at Jesus Christ. When Jesus was in Gethsemane, we can read how He cried out those very words: Abba, Father. He cried out to the only one who could help Him, His Heavenly Father, in His agony, in His sorrow, in His pain and suffering. He cried out for help: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” And in that moment, it was not possible; the cup could not pass from Him. But His cries to His Father proved He was the Son of God, just as our cries to our Father prove we are the sons and daughters of God.
Isn’t the Bible wonderful? Isn’t it wonderful the assurance you can find when you just read the scriptures?
There is one other thing I would like to look at here in these verses this morning. Besides this crying being evidence that we are the children of God, the other thing I would like to look at is that word “adoption.” Paul seems to use adoption as a common explanation or analogy of what is happening when we come to faith in Christ. We find that the book of Romans is not the only book where he uses this kind of language, and there are some notable things here to see when we look at that.
Adoption, in the natural sense, is something I think we all understand. We can adopt someone into our family. Maybe it is an orphan, or maybe it’s a foster child. There are different ways that could happen. But when we adopt a child, that child is legally our child. The biological parents no longer have any rights over it, and now the adoptive parents are in every way the true legal parents of the child.
The child’s name is even changed. When you adopt children, you give them your own last name, and you love them just like you would your own natural-born child. They are just as much a part of your family as a natural-born child.
And Paul compares being in Christ Jesus to being adopted. Our family has changed. Our Father has changed. We are in a new situation, and we realize this is something spiritual. If we went back to chapter 5, Paul explained that in Adam all die, but in Christ we are all made alive. And when God adopts us, He is adopting someone from Adam’s family, and now we are part of Jesus Christ’s family. The Bible speaks of Adam’s descendants and calls them the children of disobedience and the children of wrath. It is a troubled family.
Turn with me over to Galatians chapter 4, and I will read just a few verses to go with this.
Galatians 4:4-7 (King James Version)
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
So here in Galatians, we see Paul using the same language as in Romans, and Paul is likening our redemption to adoption. Just like in Romans, he is telling us the thing that seals the adoption is the Spirit of adoption, the Holy Spirit in us. If we have the Holy Spirit in us, then we are adopted children of God. Our crying out to God as our Father is evidence of our adoption and evidence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within.
We will get into this in another message, but Paul is setting up a whole other level of benefits and promises we have access to as a result of being sons and daughters of God. And as we bring the message to a close today, let me say there are many benefits and promises that we have as children of God.
But in my experience, there are many people we have known who do not even believe they are saved. They cry out to God every day; they live tortured lives, chasing something they already have. But the Spirit of adoption didn’t come to give us fear; He came to give us peace and comfort. And there is peace and comfort in knowing we are the children of God. There is peace and comfort in knowing that we have the Spirit, and that peace and love of God is the greatest of all the blessings.
In this life, ye shall have tribulations. They hated Jesus; they will hate us also. But Jesus said, “Fear not, for I have overcome the world.” There is a day when things will be different. There will be a day when all the groanings are over, and there is peace and comfort in knowing that day is a certainty and that it is a certainty that you and I will be there.
Let me close in prayer.