We're back again looking at the work of the Spirit. This week we're going to consider another simple sentence that reveals something profound about the Gospel. 'The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God...'
From time to time I encourage you to meditate on Scripture. The benefit of meditation is that you have to slow down to see more of what is going on in the bit of Scripture that you are meditating on. As we slow down for this verse one thing stands out: we are children of God. This really is a big deal. I think that I can say that this element of our faith is unique among the world religions. I'm no expert on Islam, but from what I understand, no Muslim person would ever say that he is a child of God. Allah is far too distant for that kind of relationship. Such a tie just doesn't fit. Likewise, a Jewish person doesn't identify himself as a child of God. He is much more likely to identify himself as a child of Abraham. God as Father is not an important theme in modern Judaism. But we who follow Jesus are different. We call ourselves children of God and we should because it's the truth. God as our Father is a primary emphasis in our religion. Though our God is the great and awesome God over all creation, He is near to us as our Father. We are children of God. This is something that we can relish.
Many things flow from this, but I am going to pick just one. Because we are God's children, we are loved. It is so important that you feel what this means. So, let's do this. Think about some of your sins, the wicked attitudes that reside within your heart, the things that people never see. Consider your words, things that you've said that have hurt others so much, or the things you failed to say that could have healed deep wounds. I want you to call to mind the different ways that the ugliness of sin still lives within you. Do you see it? Do you have a sense of your sinfulness? We deserve the worst of the wrath of God. He should toss us all into the lowest pit of hell and throw away the key. Just a moment's honesty will bring any person to that conclusion. So, right now, I want you to say this to yourself: 'I deserve hell.' A truer statement has never been uttered. 'I deserve hell.' Have you said it to yourself? Now, tell yourself this: 'But... because of the Gospel, I am loved. God is my Father, and I am His child. I am loved.' That is simply astounding. But it's the truth. It's the Gospel.
There is, however, a problem. How well do you believe what you just told yourself about being loved? I don't think that I am far off if I say that one of the great needs for so many Christians is to know that they are loved. To know it. It seems to me that so many doubt that. Now, I'm not saying that people go around saying, 'I wonder if I'm loved?' But every time you give in to worry you doubt that your Father loves you. Every time you push yourself because you figure that you can only depend on yourself, you doubt that your Father loves you. Every time you give in to discouragement, maybe even to the point of giving up hope, you doubt that your Father loves you. It is simply a fact of the Gospel that we are loved. God is our Father and we are His children. We are loved. But it is also a fact that, in this or that situation, we doubt that.
Now you have before you two facts. Fact one: your are children of God and because of that you are loved. Fact two: To a greater or lesser extent, you doubt this way too often. Two facts. Wouldn't it be great to be able to increase your assurance about that first fact and progressively eradicate the second. But how? What do we do to be more assured that we are loved by the Father? How do we remove all doubt about that fact so that our hearts are fully persuaded? The Gospel answers that. And the Gospel answer is that you are to do nothing. Nothing. And the reason for that is clear. You are to do nothing because there is nothing that you can do to effect this kind of change. This is something that only the Spirit can do. 'The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God.' Being assured of God's Fatherly love is a work of the Spirit. Do you see why I said that this is a profound statement? It almost makes you believe that the Gospel is completely a matter of grace and not at all of works.
It's appropriate to ask a question at this point: How does the Spirit do it? How does He bring about assurance? There are some of us who would like it if He just sent us a letter in the mail. 'Dear Leon, You are my child and I love you. With all My love, God.' The problem is that even if we did receive such a letter would we believe it? I know that I would be looking for the return address of the jokester who send me such a letter. So, how does the Spirit effect this kind of change so that we would be assured that we are loved. I was listening to Pastor Mark Driscoll recently. During his talk he referred to 'Daddy dates'. He takes each of his daughters out to dinner and something else on a regular basis. In the talk I was listening to, he was talking about a 'Daddy date' with his four year old, Alexi. His goal in this is to protect his daughters. He knows that at some point there's going to be some teen age guy who's going to want to date his daughters. He wants to make sure that when that happens none of his girls are desperate for love and go off and do something stupid with that boy. His theory is that his girls will be kept safe from such a danger because they will just know: My Daddy loves me. And how would they know that? Well, they could point to the 'Daddy dates', but they won't have to. By then, they'll just know that their Daddy loves them. They'll just know. That's what the Spirit does with you. He does His work within you, by different means, so that you just know, 'I am loved. God is my Father. I am His child. I am loved.' You just know. And that is a great comfort.
All of this is so very important. It makes a huge difference in how we deal with life in this fallen world. Paul reminds us of this in our text when he mentions suffering. '[We are] heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him...' Suffering is a necessary part of being a Christian. Whenever you are confronted with some aspect of the sinfulness of this creation, and you press on to be faithful to Jesus, you will experience suffering. Some of the suffering that you face is no huge ordeal. But there are experiences of suffering that are great wrestling matches. They are hard. Paul lists some examples of what he has in mind here. Listen. 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." ' This is not an exhaustive list, just suggestive. Some of our suffering comes from other people, things like persecution. But there is also famine, distress, and danger. These are the kinds of things that come from life in a fallen world. And these sorts of things are Christian suffering because we deal with them for Jesus' sake. That's why Paul wrote, 'for your sake we are being killed all day long.' We wrestle with sin and suffer as a result because of our devotion to Jesus. We follow Jesus and we keep doing that even though it costs.
Now, this is where things begin to come together. When suffering for Jesus' sake gets hard, there is only one thing that will keep you at it: 'I am loved. God is my Father. I am His child. I am loved.' This is something that you need to know. If you know this then, when the suffering gets hard, you will be able to say, 'God's plan for me is good and wise and loving.' It is this assurance that will give you the hope that you need to continue on as a faithful disciple of Jesus. It is because of this assurance that you can cry out, 'Abba, Father.' You may cry out in great pain, but you cry out confidently, knowing that your loving Father will hear and that He will get you through it.
And being able to endure like this is important because the world is watching. Remember, we exist to make Jesus look good, and that is especially true when life gets hard. That's not to say that there aren't benefits for you in this. As you face suffering and endure as a confident child of God, your sense of joy will grow. And the reason for that is clear. As you suffer, you begin to see how very small your strength is. And as you see that, you then are forced to depend on your Father more. His promises become more important to you because you come to see more clearly that they are so necessary. And then, a funny thing happens. You discover that your Father really does keep His promises to you. Those words that used to be just some memory verses that you felt obligated to learn, become real. And what used to be something that you doubted becomes something you believe. 'Dear Leon, You are my child, and I love you. With all My love, God, Your Father.' That experience becomes fertile soil for a joy inexpressible and full of glory. As a result, hope blossoms. What it means to be an heir, to have 'an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you...' becomes so much richer.
So, suffering will come. There will be tears as you wrestle with choices and emotions and temptations. But underneath it all, holding everything else up, will be this confidence. 'I am loved. God is my Father. I am His child. I am loved.' And that confidence will be there not because of you. It will be there because of what the Spirit does in your life. He is the one who makes us confident in the Father's love. It is up to Him alone to create that kind of confidence. Remember we are not in control. The Spirit sovereignly acts. He will bless when He is good and ready to. We are not in control. And yet, as I said last week, we can put ourselves in the place where the Spirit does His work. It was in that context that I told you to read your Bible, commune with your God and use the community of the saints. There are other things to do also, but these are where you start. So, let me encourage you to continue to work at these spiritual disciplines. As you do, you will see more and more evidence that the Spirit is at work in your life. And that will bear some awesome fruit.
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