THE ASSURANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Romans 8:15‑16
Spiritual uncertainty is characteristic of our day. Very few can speak of their relationship with God with confidence and assurance. Fear is the dominant emotion for men when they consider death, God, and eternity. A primary reason for this is that most people are committed to some plan of salvation by works. They are seeking to go to heaven on some kind of "Do‑it‑yourself" plan. It will usually be a modern version of legalism ‑‑‑ salvation by law keeping. All that this approach will ever produce is fear. There is no way that a man can ever be sure that he has done enough good to meet the demands of God. Because of this, he lacks confidence and assurance.

This uncertainty stands in conflict with what we discover in the New Testament. The early Christians walked through life with a remarkable confidence about their relationship to God. They would bear testimony, "But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." What was the secret of their assurance? A part of the answer is found in our text. The work of the Holy Spirit in their lives had produced this inner confidence toward God. He is the source of Christian assurance. Through His ministry we can know that we are the sons of God. Already we have noticed that His leadership in our lives is one basis for assurance. We can know that we are sons of God if we have been guided by the Spirit. He guides only those who have the dignity of sons. But there is more to His ministry than guidance.

THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE PROVIDES ASSURANCE
Already we have noticed that the believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion. When Christ is received as Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit takes up His residence in the spirit of the believer. The nature of the Holy Spirit is not a spirit of slavery. His indwelling does not produce a sense of bondage, but rather of liberty and freedom. His indwelling does not produce a servile fear, but rather a sense of sonship. This is saying something to us very basic about the person of the Holy Spirit. He does not come to live in the heart of the Christian to bind him with a lot of rules and bring him into bondage. Those supposedly deep spiritual experiences that leave you shackled and frightened are not experiences with the Holy Spirit.

"But ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." "Adoption'' is a word that means to place as sons. In the background of this word is the Roman legal practice of adoption. Roman law included a very detailed legal procedure that those adopting a child were to follow. It involved the natural father selling the child three times, and each time renouncing the paternal rights to the child. When the procedure was finished, the adoption was final. The child being adopted lost all of his rights in his old family, and gained all the rights of a fully legitimate son in his new family. He became a full heir to his new father's estate. In the eyes of the law he was literally and absolutely the son of his adoptive father. Nothing could ever change this relationship. The Holy Spirit who comes into the heart of the believer at conversion is the spirit of adoption. This means that He is the Spirit who works out the adoption and the Spirit who makes the adopted ones aware of their new relationship to the Father.

One reason for the fear and uncertainty in men is that they are not by nature the sons of God. By nature we have proven ourselves to be the servants of sin and the children of disobedience. Consequently we have become the children of wrath. Something deep within us causes us to know that we really have no sure standing before Holy God. If we are to ever have any standing with God, He must give it to us as a grace gift. This He does, when we place our faith in Christ alone for salvation. At that moment the Holy Spirit comes into our lives to make us aware of this relationship. He makes the relationship so real that we are made to cry out loud in prayer and worship, "Abba, Father." Abba is the word that Paul used for father when he was a child. It was the word for father in his native language. In the deeper moments of his life, the moments of great joy, he reverted to his native language to express the joy that he was experiencing. In this case, his confidence toward God was that God was his "Abba", His heavenly Father.

Placing two of the great events of the Bible side by side might help us to understand the difference that the presence of the Holy Spirit makes. One of the great moments of all time took place when God gave the law at Mount Sinai. The whole nation of Israel stood before the mountain in submissive expectancy, waiting to hear the terms of the covenant God was making with them. But when the Voice began to speak from the cloud, they began to tremble with fright. The awesome revelation of God and His law was such that they were made to feel utterly worthless and helpless. But Pentecost was a moment of even greater
importance. This moment found a small group of the people of Israel waiting prayerfully and expectantly in an upper room in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit came to take up residence in that one hundred and twenty, and to make Himself available to all who would receive Jesus as Messiah and Lord. The coming of the Spirit was accompanied by the sound of a rushing mighty wind, cloven tongues of fire, and other strange happenings. But when the Spirit had come, instead of being paralyzed by fear, the one hundred and twenty had such a fresh awareness of their relationship with God, that they were indeed the very sons of God that they rushed out into the street joyfully speaking of the wonderful and mighty things of God, praising God with their whole hearts. This is just the nature of the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of adoption. His very presence in a life makes the person aware that they are sons of God, enables them to confidently worship, and praise, and pray. This then is the source of spiritual assurance and confidence.

THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO US PROVIDES ASSURANCE
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'' This statement brings before us two witnessing spirits. One of them is the "Spirit itself". The neuter pronoun is used here to be in agreement with the neuter form of the noun spirit. However, in translating it into English, we should always translate it "Himself". The Holy Spirit of God is not an "it", He is a person! But this divine person, the Holy Spirit is one of the witnessing spirits. He joins "our spirit" in the witness. This does not mean that He witnesses to our spirit, but that our spirit and the Holy Spirit are both bearing a witness to our being the sons of God. One of the functions of the human spirit is that of knowing God. While the spirit of an unsaved man is dead, when we are born again, the spirit of man is made alive. Once the spirit receives new life from the Holy Spirit, then it begins to fulfill the function God had originally planned. It begins to make the man aware of his new relationship to God. So there are actually two of these wonderful witnesses in the life of the believer.

Their witness is that we are the children of God. In presenting our relationship to God, the Apostle employs two words. The first is translated "son" in verse fourteen. It is also a part of the word "adoption" which means to place as sons. This word calls attention to the legal standing enjoyed by sons, to their dignity and position as sons. It would remind us that we enjoy the legal and wonderful position of a son in the family of God. We are not His bondslaves, but His sons. The other word is the one translated "children'' in this verse. It, too, could be translated "sons", but is translated differently to call attention to the usage of two different words. This word refers to the relationship that is the result of having been born of his father. These are the "born ones". The Holy Spirit is bearing witness to us of the very close and personal relationship that we now enjoy with the Father. The word used would call attention to this being a continuing part of the Holy Spirit's ministry in our lives. He is always bearing witness to our relationship to the Father.

This inner witness of the Holy Spirit to our sonship is given in several different ways. One of the primary ways is through the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Spirit will illumine to the understanding of the believer the wonderful promises found in the word. He will enable you to understand and know that these promises really belong to you, that God has entered into covenant with you. The Holy Spirit will also bear witness in times of worship. Many times as hymns are sung, prayers are offered, or the word is expounded, the Holy Spirit will bring a forceful reminder of your relationship to God, that you have indeed been born and adopted into His family. Many times the witness will be heard while you are engaged in prayer. The Holy Spirit will just open your eyes to see the Lord and to understand the blessed position that belongs to you. At other times the witness will be given in other ways. Whenever you are engaged in some activity unbecoming a son of God, the Holy Spirit may bear a witness to your being a son of God in order to bring shame and repentance into your life. The Holy Spirit has an infinite number of ways to bear witness to you of your spiritual position before God.

If you are not knowing this kind of assurance, it does not necessarily mean that you are not a Christian. We must be careful not to make assurance essential to salvation. To make such a deduction is a perversion of the Biblical message of salvation. Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing else should be added to this. If you place your faith in Christ, you may feel saved, or you may not feel saved. If God is trustworthy, if you have trusted Christ with your whole heart, you are saved whether you feel saved or not. However, God does want us to have confidence and assurance. A fearful and doubting Christian is a poor representative of our Lord. Your failure to know assurance may be the result of ignorance of God's word. The Holy Spirit is pleased to use the written word to comfort and assure our hearts. This is one reason that it is urgent that you devote much time to prayerful consideration of the written word.

Your failure to know assurance may also be caused by your quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit. Experiential assurance is directly related to His witness. He is not able to do His ministry fully in the life that is not yielded to His control, or the life that is harboring some kind of known sin or disobedience. A cleansed life, and a controlled life is the life most likely to know the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.
May the Spirit grant to you full assurance of your relationship with the Father through the Son!