The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'Evidences of Assurance by the Holy Spirit,' explores the theme of assurance of salvation through the lens of Romans 8:8-18. The sermon emphasizes the transition from living according to the flesh to living by the Spirit, highlighting that those in Christ are free from condemnation. Dohm outlines four evidences of assurance by the Holy Spirit: the mortification of the deeds of the flesh, being led by the Spirit, crying out 'Abba Father,' and enduring suffering with Christ. The sermon stresses that assurance is not based on perfection but on the presence and work of the Holy Spirit within believers, evidenced by changed desires and inclinations. The concept of adoption is used to illustrate the believer's relationship with God, underscoring the significance of being heirs with Christ and the profound love God has for His children. Throughout the sermon, Dohm encourages believers to reflect on their spiritual journey, recognize the Spirit's work in their lives, and find assurance even in suffering, as it aligns them with Christ's glory.

Our sermon text for this week is in Romans chapter 8 verses 8 through 18, but for context I'm going to start at verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, 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 as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 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 joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him then that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Hearing the singing, the wonderful singing, I'm thankful there's a sermon coming because you all need a break. Your singing, just so thankful for your singing this morning. Your voices need this break. So thankful for it. Let's pray.

Our Father, our Father, Our Father, our Father, how beautiful that we get to call you our Father. By the works of Christ alone, by your mercy and grace alone, by faith alone, we have you as Father. And thank you for giving of your Spirit to indwell us and to assure us of that salvation, to assure us of that mercy and grace you've given us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, make these words powerful, assuring us of our great hope that we have with you. Teach us, correct us, train us for your righteousness sake.

Amen. Has anyone ever struggled with assurance? If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you have questioned your salvation. You've questioned assurance. Am I saved?

And especially coming out of Romans 7, you could be easily asking the question, am I a Christian or is my remaining sin really just the remnants of the flesh? You can come out of that, like this doctrine that is taught, and you can come out of that thinking, am I really warning or am I even a Christian? What's the reason for this indwelling sin? And so the purpose here is to use these verses, I think, I believe the purpose here that the Holy Spirit has inspired is to assure you. As was prayed by Taylor, if you're a Christian, to assure you that you're a Christian.

If you're not a Christian, to assure you that you're not a Christian. This is about assurance to everyone here. You fall in one of those camps. The purpose here, especially if you are a Christian, is not that you question, but you see the works of the Holy Spirit. Evidences of assurance by the Holy Spirit.

Last week, Jason ended the message with a quote from John MacArthur saying, The person who gives no evidence of the presence, power, and fruit of God's Spirit in his life has no legitimate claim to Christ as Savior and Lord. The person who demonstrates no desire for the things of God and has no inclination to avoid sin or passion to please God is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and thus does not belong to Christ." I agree with everything Mr. MacArthur said. Make sure you heard it correctly. He did not mention anything that would lead you to believe, or that should lead you to believe that unless you have a perfect life, you have no evidence of being a Christian.

He talked about evidence. He talked about demonstration. He talked about inclination, he talked about passion. Make sure we understand what was said there. God, your Father, wants you assured of salvation.

Jesus paid too high a price for you not to be assured. He paid the price for you to be assured and the Holy Spirit is indwelling you for insurance. Listen to 1 John 4.13. By this By this we know. By this you know.

We know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. That sounds like God wants you to know. Not just wants you to know, says you can know. You can know. By this we know.

In today's text, we're looking at evidence of assurance by the Holy Spirit. Looking back in verse 11, the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. So I'm going to give you four evidences, four evidences of assurance by the Holy Spirit. I know on your handouts it has three points. I'm making it four.

Jason helped out a week ago by by printing these out for me and I was very helpful before he left to do that. But I have four points and there's four evidences. The first is in verses 12 through 13. Let me read those. Therefore, brethren, 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 the first evidence of Assurance by the Holy Spirit is putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. Make sure you never think of putting to death the deeds of the flesh without adding by the Spirit. So important. So important. He starts with therefore.

He said it before. Whenever you see the therefore, you know that Paul is transitioning from doctrine to application. And he always does this. Paul never gives us doctrine without applying it. And here we are applying it.

And he starts with brethren. I don't think I've said this before. When you see the word brethren, This word by Paul that he uses so often. It is not Paul saying, well I don't want to use so many letters by saying brothers and sisters. This is an intentional word, a word of tenderness.

Whenever you see the word brethren used by Paul, think, well He is loving me. He is being tender. He is saying, I'm in this with you. We are brethren in Christ. It's his way of just a tender expression, loving expression.

He says, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh. We are not debtors to the flesh. We are not debtors to the flesh. This flesh is who we are in our natural state before we were saved, before we were redeemed. Our old self, before we were born again, when we were ruled and motivated by these fleshly desires.

When we couldn't please God. Romans 8.8. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Brethren, we owe the flesh nothing. Nothing.

I'm not talking about our physical flesh. Our physical flesh, we do owe it to clothe it, to feed it, to take care of it. I'm talking about the flesh in this way. We're talking about the desires, the inclinations, the motivations that we have. The things that we want to do.

But we owe that flesh nothing. It brings death. It cannot please God. Martin Lloyd Jones says, the flesh is the source of all of our problems. Our sin and misery.

That's the source of it. Remember now, back in 7.4, Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. We owe the flesh nothing. We are married to Christ now, bearing fruit to God. And the implication here is that we're now debtors to God.

We want to think of it that way, debtors to God, be careful of what we owe. Christ has paid it all, but you can flip back over to Romans 6, 22 and 23. But now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The implication is we're now solely owned by God. He bought us.

He owns us. We owe Him everything. Not out of fears we'll talk about, but out of love, out of gratitude, out of expressions of worship. How could you? That's amazing.

So, by the Spirit, I put to death the deeds of the flesh and have life in Christ. We are told here in this putting to death that King James says, mortify, kill, destroy the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. John 6, it is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. That means, according to trying in our own works, profits nothing.

The Spirit gives life. The Spirit changes your desires. The Spirit leads us as we will see. So this first evidence of assurance by the Spirit is mortifying, putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. This happens by, as I mentioned earlier, recognize you're the problem.

You are your biggest problem. It's not TV, it's not the culture, it's not movies, it's not books, it's not even Satan. Oh, he affects culture, he can influence you, but you're the biggest problem. Take all of that out, and what are you left with? Me and my sin.

Still, take all that away. I still have it. I am my biggest problem. When you're thinking about putting death to the deeds of the flesh, do you remember the last time you put to death the deed of the flesh? By the Spirit?

It's a lifetime war. But there will be victories along the way. Think back, look back. We have men and women here that tell stories of where they were and where they are now. Where they were before a Christian and where they are now as a Christian.

Those are wonderful. Those are evidences of God's grace on you. But also tell the story of where you were 10 years ago, even as a Christian, and where you are now. Where you were 5 years ago. Where you were a week ago even.

Tell those stories. Where, when's the last time you really repented of sin, hating sin to the point of repenting? And when's that time when you dragged up that sin, you know it's sitting there, You dragged it up that you didn't want to face it. You said, God, by your spirit, let's go to war with this. Let's put this to death.

And you know what? You may not completely put it to death. As we spent 20-some-odd weeks in the Decalogue talking about the categories of sin, there's these big categories, you're never going to put them all to death. You won't in this lifetime. You won't.

But there's little pieces along the way that are leading towards glory, leading towards when we are perfected in glory. It's the spirit. The spirit leads you in your preparation for these wars, for these battles, to put to death the deeds of the body, of the flesh. You need to prepare to do this. It's not just going to happen.

Put it to death and away you go and walk away. It takes preparation for war. I was studying on, I was looking up D-Day recently because we had June 6th. It took them 18 months to prepare for D-Day. And then they were still battling a year after that.

It took 18 months. It takes preparation for war and battles. Pray, read, have that self-examination, get that from other people. Listen, get your observation from other people. Listen to Psalm 139.

When's the last time you really prayed this? 139, 23, and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties, and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. In some ways, this prayer is right and good, but when you say search me and know my heart, try me and know, see if there's any wicked way in me.

I've prayed this before and then as I'm praying this, I'm thinking of, yeah, no, I know there's a wicked way, I know there's sin. I'm thinking of sin. No, You don't have to search me too hard. I know of this and this and this and this already. But still pray it.

Still pray it. Because you're humbling yourself before God. The more I know of sin, the depths of sin, the more I'm going to see and love the merciful, gracious work of Christ. So if that's you, if you are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, and you see progress there throughout your life, by the Spirit be assured. Number two, the second evidence of assurance.

In 14, just the beginning of 14. This is where I split on your outline, just the beginning of 14 here. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God. The second evidence of assurance by the Spirit is being led by the Spirit.

Being led by the Spirit. Go ahead and turn to Galatians 5. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? So we look at Galatians 5, see a few things here. This isn't going to bottom us out on this, but it will get us thinking a little bit.

Galatians 5 in verse 16 says, I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So we're talking about being led in the Spirit where we are. Here Paul is saying, walk in the Spirit. Then in verse 18, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Not under the condemnation of the law, the curse of the law anymore.

Because if you have the Spirit in you, if you are being led by the Spirit, you are a Christian because you have the indwelling Holy Spirit. That's the only way that's possible. And then we have the works of the flesh. You list a bunch of categories and some specifics on the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit I'll mention later. Then verse 25, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.

This walking is being regulated by the Spirit. This leading is being continuously guided by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is the word that's used here has this idea of being attached to. I'm not going to let go of you. Now, we know it's Christ who holds us fast.

I'm not the one that has to do the holding. But I'm being led by the Spirit who is holding me fast continually. If you're a Christian, you have that. It may not feel like that. Often it doesn't feel like that, but He is holding you.

He is leading you. You are being led by the Spirit. I want to give you seven ways, seven ways that you are being led by the Spirit. And yeah, you can examine yourself on these things, But if you're a Christian, here are seven ways that you are being led by a spirit. As a Christian, there is evidence of the presence, power, and fruit of God's Spirit in your life in these areas.

Granted, it is not where any of us wanted to be ultimately, but these are evidences how you are being led. Number one, we've already talked about your mortifying and putting to death the deeds of the flesh is from the Spirit leading. Number two, the Word of God is your source of truth, your source of righteousness, and a delight. And a delight, that only happens if you're a Christian, if you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Psalm 119.16, I will delight myself in your statutes.

I will not forget your word. 2 Timothy 3.16 and 17. We know this well. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. If you know your catechism, you know what that means.

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." That's being done by the Holy Spirit. You're being led by the Holy Spirit to see that his word is good for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction to complete you and thoroughly equip you for every good word. That's being led by the Spirit for that. How are you going to know if your changing desires, your changing inclinations are good or bad, are righteous or sinful?

You're going to know that by the Word of God that is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And you'll be led by that. You are being led by this. Whether it's Sunday morning, whether it's Tuesday morning, whether it's Wednesday night, whether it's every day in your household, this is your source of life. When You're reading, you're meditating, you're studying, you're memorizing.

You have time with boots on that we've said before where you're just digging in. You're digging in and studying, not just for knowledge, but you may be searching. There's also boots off time where you're just reading for familiarity. You're reading for the joy of just reading. There should be a lot of that time and probably more than the boots on time.

So that's number two, the Word of God is your source of truth, righteousness, and the delight. The third way you're being led by the Spirit is you are sanctified by the Spirit. Sanctified by the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 4.3, this is the will of God, your sanctification. You can look back, now reaching back to Galatians 5, you can look back.

And you can see an increase in your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You can. You waffle. You go up and down. You have times.

But if you look out, like me, I can look back 40 years, so that line is getting longer, and as you look at trajectory, you don't see those waivers as much, but it doesn't mean I'm perfect. It doesn't mean it's a straight line. Earlier in my Christian life, it probably was as the trajectory was up in sanctification, right? I have less data points and it's looking more like this, but over time, you see this. Hey, being sanctified by the Spirit, how much are you more ready to forgive now?

Because you know the forgiveness of Christ. The more you know your sin, the more you know the grace of Christ, the more you know the depths of His forgiveness, the more I'm willing to forgive and not get all bent out of shape and recognize the grace and the mercy of Christ, especially towards brethren. Especially towards brethren. Have a much longer rope with brethren. As I said before, not only has Christ forgiven me, but I know the rope you give me, and how gracious and merciful you are towards me so often.

So that's your being sanctified by the Spirit. Another way you're being led by the Spirit is how you pray, and that you do pray. You pray. Ephesians, read Ephesians 6. So Ephesians 6, when we think of Ephesians 6, often we think of the armor of God.

At the end of that, you have verses 17 and 18. 17, the helmet of salvation, often we think of as the last piece of armor, it is the last piece of physical armor, but 18, prayer, is just as important for that armor. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, the word of God of the Spirit inspired by the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all The saints. You pray much differently than you did as a non-Christian. Non-Christian, you were deal-making with God.

If you were old enough to do that, you were dealing with God, save me from this and I'll do everything for you. God, make this go better, make my job go better, my marriage go better, My children go better. This health issue go better. And you're deal making with God. That's not your prayers now.

Because you know that Christ paid all the wages. There's no deal to make. Christ satisfied. Satisfied the wrath of God. And now all you know is grace and mercy.

And your prayers are for this battle. Your prayers are to glorify and magnify Him. Your prayers are for your sanctification. James 4 says you don't have because you don't ask. Read that whole chapter.

The whole chapter is about overcoming sin and it's specifically talking about what happens in the church. There are wars and fights among the brethren, desires for pleasure, lust, murder, coveting, and adultery? You have because you don't ask God, rid this. God, encourage our church, help our church, help these battles that are happening between people that I see. Help me in my interaction in how this happens.

John Owen, quote, He who pleads with God, prayer, he who pleads with God for the remission of sin also pleads with his own heart to detest it. When you pray and you are pleading with God for forgiveness of sin, and you know he will forgive. I've repented of the same thing over and over again in my life. There's been several items that, you know, I repent and you come back and I go, I hate to even come back to this again, God. I said I repented a year ago and here I am again.

But I know I've been forgiven. And as he continues to forgive me and lead me and guide me and sanctify me, my heart learns to detest it even more. Because I see how loving my Savior is that He forgives me again. And then you think about it and you go, but wait a second, He saved me knowing I would do that. He knew my remaining sin.

He knew I would repent and then sin and repent again. And He knew that about you. And you know what your Savior never does? He never looks at you and says, I wish I had saved someone else. No.

He loves you. And He's giving you of His Spirit to indwell you, to assure you that He still loves you, He is still sanctifying you, His blood is still as effective as it was the first day He saved you and always will be. The fifth evidence of being led by the Spirit is you love preaching and the church. You love the preaching of the Word of God and the church. Preachers can have bad sermons.

We can have bad sermons. I'm not talking about necessarily you love the preacher. That's great. But you love hearing the Word of God preached. Where it's done faithfully.

And by the grace of God, my words can get mixed up, but you can still see through that and love the Word of God. The desire in preaching, the desire in preaching is for God to be glorified by drawing you to Scripture, drawing all of us to Scripture. That's the desire. Not to draw yourself to any talent or ability any preacher has, but to draw you to Scripture. Draw you to Scripture to focus our thoughts on God and be led by the Spirit through applying all of Scripture.

That is back to 2 Timothy that is wise for salvation, that is profitable, that corrects us, that trains us, that completes us for every good works. On this you love preaching and the church. Hey it bothers you now to miss the Lord's Day. There was a time when it didn't bother you to miss the Lord's Day. Not for some checkbox because you'd love to worship with the people of God now.

That's it. John MacArthur quote, You don't need church for more information. You don't need church for more theology, but to fix hearts on God. To Fix our hearts on God. That is being led by the Spirit.

The sixth way you're being led by the Spirit is your obedience to God. Your obedience to God. When you were in the flesh, You couldn't please God. You didn't want to obey God. You did things that were good in the world's eyes, that were good mainly out of your own motivation, self-preservation to look good, right?

You're man-pleaser. You want to look good. You want people to say good things about you. You want raises at work, right? All that I'm thankful for that God doesn't just let loose man's inclinations but does constrain them.

I'm so thankful. But now why do you do those things? Because you love God. John 14, 15, if you love me you will keep my commandments. When we went through John we were careful.

Let's not get this mixed up. That I obey the commandments therefore I have the love of God. No, no, no, no. It's an evidence of you loving God. It's an evidence of the Holy Spirit living within you that you obey Him out of love for Him.

That you're doing this out of love for God. Matthew 22, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And I have never done that. Neither have you. But this goes back to sanctification.

The Holy Spirit says, I want that. And I look forward to the day when that will happen. That will happen when either Christ returns or I die. That will happen. I will love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And the last one, the last evidence of being led by the Spirit, your patterns of life have changed by the leading of Spirit. Kind of a catch-all category here. But your patterns of life have changed by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Think about what you do on the Lord's Day now. What do you do on Sunday?

Prayer meeting, women's fellowship, men's study, father-daughter retreats, father-son retreats, family worship, other fellowships. What your checkbook says now. Your personal worship. Your patterns of life are much different by the leading of the spirit. And your patterns of the mind.

Last week Jason asked a great question, What dominates my thoughts? What's dominating my thoughts? What do my thoughts gravitate to when there's downtime? When I go to sleep, when I'm walking, when I'm driving? What are my patterns of life of what I desire to do now.

What I'm willing to watch and read and listen to, what I'm discussing, who I fellowship with, how much that fellowship is, how that fellowship is. Colossians 3, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ." Matthew Henry says, the activity of the believer is the evidence of the Spirit's activity and the activity of the Spirit is the cause of the believer's activity. As you have evidence, as you are displaying evidence of the Spirit's activity and you should give you assurance that you are Christ, that you are God's. As you have that, you give thanks to God because you know it's the Spirit causing that. It's not me.

Because in the flesh I cannot please God, because I know what my motivations have been. I know what my motivations can be today. But then God corrects that and I can praise God for His Spirit, making me aware of that. So I can seek forgiveness and I'll ask forgiveness, when I say seek, hoping I'll get it, no, no, no. Let me change my words.

So I'll ask for forgiveness, I'll be given forgiveness and loved on. There's effects of sin. I'll be loved on, chasing back and shown how kind of a father he is. By being led by the indwelling spirit, it is evidence of assurance of salvation. Let's look at the third evidence in 14 through 16 now.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The third evidence The third evidence of assurance by the Holy Spirit is crying out Abba Father. In verse 14, Paul says, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Paul is specifically using sons here.

This is not a generic term for all mankind, all humanity. He's intentionally, specifically saying son here for emphasis. Let me tell you why. Before ladies, you get concerned. Let me tell you why.

In history, in history it was only as soon as the 1800s that women could inherit anything. Anything. So Let's call it 1800 years after Paul. That is not chastising the history before that or saying anything about the history. That's saying what Paul is using here for emphasis.

So Paul, what Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, what he wants to do here, he wanted the weight of what he is saying to sink in. And this is the weight he wants to sink in. There are Christian males and females, and they are both adopted as if they were sons, and they both inherit now. He wanted this weight to sink in. The Romans understood that weight much better than we would understand that weight today.

J.I. Packard says this about adoption. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. That is not what Packer is not putting aside, the need of the knowing of the Gospel.

That is top. But when you know the Gospel, What we should know next, right there with it, is the effect of the Gospel is our adoption. That we are now sons and daughters, men, women, boys and girls that are Christians, children of God. The Romans got this depth. The Romans in general, not necessarily just the Romans, he's the Roman brethren.

The Romans, what they understood about adoption, in Rome, in Roman times, this time 2000 years ago, those that were adopted were of all the children, so you have naturally born children, adopted children, those that were adopted were often seen as those that had more honor. They got more honor in their families oftentimes than those that were naturally born. Why? Because they were chosen to be in the family. Starting to make some connections here?

They were chosen to be in the family. It's not that we don't love our other children, but they were chosen to be in that family. It was so sweet, so, so sweet to apply this to Christians. What was our inheritance in the flesh? Hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

Now, chosen by God, not because of anything I've done. Earthly adoption, you might adopt it. It's so cute, so wonderful. The place you're in and you see all that. But even in that earthly adoption, especially babies, we've had quite a few here adopted when they were babies?

What did they ever do to try to appeal, to make their case, to stand up and give their 15 minutes why they believe they should adopt them? Nothing. We did nothing to attract God's favor. Nothing. That's not what this means by being chosen by God.

It's all of His grace and mercy. But now we've been chosen by God, adopted sons as if we are children, natural children of God. And we have inheritance as if we were always children. We'll see that in verse 17. It was, by grace alone, we were hostile enemies.

And Christ earned, Christ earned the ability for you to be adopted. He paid the wages. And what's the evidence? So that's the adoption. So the evidence of that adoption, you know it, you know the theology, you know the doctrine.

The evidence of that is now you cry out, Abba Father! That's much different than when you cried out to God in your deal making days. Abba Father! This is the tender, trusting, needing care of your Father you're crying out to. Who is God?

Who is God? This is how Jesus referred to God the most. And now as I'm reading, especially the last couple of weeks preparing for this, as I'm reading through the Gospels, I see Father, Father, Father. As you learn things, as you study things and focus on things, different things come out. And this has been coming out.

How many times? I didn't do a search or account, but this was Jesus' favorite title for God, my Father, and this is how he taught us to pray, our Father. Look how Jesus addresses God and instructs us to address God, and you'll see how important this understanding of adoption is. The term Abba, you've probably heard before, can be thought of as daddy or papa, and I'm not against that thought, but I want to give us a caution on that. And let Archie Sproul help caution us.

The term daddy can be used in a childish or frivolous way. It can be. In a childish or frivolous way. The fact that we can address God now as Father and say Abba to Him does not give us the right to enter into His presence presumptuously or arrogantly. So we're being careful in our use of the word Abba.

Maybe in my personal prayers I might say Dad, but I'm probably not. My language lately has been safe just saying Abba. Abba. I would not expect any of us, and I don't know that I would say anything to you or not, depending on the context, in public prayer and Wednesday night to start your prayer, oh daddy. It's not that it doesn't sound right, but use what God taught us.

God, who is Christ, taught us, Father. But in my private prayers, I'm going to say Abba. I'm going to say Abba when I'm crying out. Christian, your proof of your adoption is crying out. Abba, Father, for this comfort and wisdom and protection, leading and assurance and forgiveness and love.

It's a loud cry. He says crying. Cry means it is loud. Abba Father! And it's not just a desperate need, Abba Father.

The way I say it, It can sound like it's used just for when I'm in desperate need. No, it could be, Abba Father, thank you for your grace. Abba Father, thank you for your mercy. Abba Father, thank you for keeping me, for preserving me. Thank you for the inheritance I have by faith.

I know it's coming. Abba Father, thank you for indwelling me with the Holy Spirit and causing all these changes, giving me a new heart and a new spirit, new desires, new loves. Thank you, Abba Father. My only hope. Yeah, there's deep sorrow, there is hard chasing, there's persecution and comfort.

And I need to know the love of my eternal holy loving God and cry out. Crying out to him looks much different than my children crying out to me. They can cry out to me. I'll disappoint them. I can't give them all hope.

I'll do my best by the power of the Holy Spirit. Cry out, Abba, Father. And we used to have fear. We used to be in fear of God, fear of death, fear of judgment, fear of condemnation. Now we have this loving adoption by our God, by our Father that invites us into His presence.

When I pray for forgiveness, one of the things I check my heart for because I've been there. It's why I have to check my heart for. Am I groveling? Am I coming with trepidation like I'm going to be turned away? And often my words will just start out just kind of mushy and this and that, like I'm trying to appease the king that he'll hold out his scepter and allow me into his presence.

And that's not the way it is. It's not with fear. I lovingly, with open arms, come into his presence. He invites me in, wants me in, crying out to him, and he won't turn me away. He won't turn you away.

You don't have that bondage of fear anymore. You're His by love, by the works of Christ. Our witness of this adoption, as we talk about here, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Our witness of this adoption is the Holy Spirit with our spirit, the inward self. The Spirit through His Word describes who a Christian is.

Talks about, tells us what the Gospel is. Then through His power, He witnesses with us the transforming power of the gospel. This transformation through the gracious, merciful work of Christ to give us new hearts, new spirits, new minds, new desires, new actions to glorify Him, to conform us. He's witnessing with us. He's saying, yes, your actions are a work of mine and we are two witnesses together that this is of God, that you are a child of God.

You are His as if you were a natural child, as if you were a son with full inheritance. Listen to 1 John 3.1. Whenever you hear 1 John 3.1, Whenever you come, whenever you're reading 1 John 3.1, never read it the same again and take some time just to sit there and glorify God over it. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God." Which leads us into our fourth evidence in verse 17. We are heirs and suffering.

The fourth evidence is our suffering. I just didn't want to leave heirs out of that title. It is so important when we talk about adoption. Verse 17, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and join heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with them that we may also be glorified together. The next verses coming up will talk more about suffering and groaning.

And Jason Lord will be back next week and he'll dive more into this. But for now, for now, This evidence of assurance that we have by the Holy Spirit because we are children, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. We were enemies, hostile to God, saved by mercy and grace alone through the work of Christ. That's enough. Right there.

Just stop there. That would be enough. I'm saved from the wrath to come. That would be enough. But remember how Paul would say these things in Romans 5?

He would say something and then he would say, not only that, and then he would say, much more than. So we are saved by the grace and mercy, by faith alone, by the works of Christ alone. And not only that, we are adopted. And much more than we get an inheritance. And not only that, we get an inheritance as if we were natural sons.

And more than that, we get a joint inheritance with Christ who is God. The depth, the amazement, the wonder of the love of Christ. That that is what we have. And what does God own when we talk about this assurance? Everything.

Everything. By definition, He's God. He owns it all. But we're also told in Romans 4.13, Christians are heirs of the world. Now, a normal inheritance, in a normal inheritance, items, money is split amongst the inheritors.

Some get more, some get less, some get none. If there's anything to even have to begin with. In God's inheritance, we all get everything. Huh? How's that?

He's God. We all get everything and we're not jealous or envious of anybody else. We all get everything. What is Christ is ours and at the top of that list, before you start thinking about this part of the world or that part of the world or heaven, the top of the list that we inherit is His righteousness and we have that now, clothing us. But in that day, we don't have it like we will in that day.

In that day His righteousness will make us perfect. We will be perfect. Right now His blood covers us. We are clothed in His righteousness and we are saved. In that day when we inherit His perfect righteousness, when our bodies are glorified, that's at the top of this list.

And we inherit God Himself. We inherit these glorified bodies. Christ had a glorified body. He ate. He was touched after resurrection.

He has this. And just kind of looking forward a little bit to to chapter 8, Romans 8 22 and 23. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. Not only that, there goes Paul again, not only that as if that, just thinking about that and the things he says before that, but we also who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. We've been adopted, we've seen this by Paul where he says these things that we are now, we are now, we are adopted, but we won't see it completely until that day.

And understand the full meaning until that day. And don't let this if in chapter 8 getting your way to make it sound like, OK, if I'm suffering, then I get the air. I need to suffer to become an air. No, no, it's just him saying. It's him saying, your suffering is the assurance that you have the inheritance coming.

John Murray says, there is no sharing in Christ's glory unless there is sharing in his sufferings. And yes, there is suffering from the general effects of sin on the world. There's sickness, there's diseases, there's cursed work, there's childbearing pains, world events, relationships, death, full of troubles and trials. And these are real. And how you respond by being led by the Spirit can be assuring.

How you respond to these things now versus how you would have responded without the Spirit can be very assuring. But although that is true of suffering, this is primarily about suffering with Christ to share His glory. This assurance that we get of suffering here is the suffering from the mocking, the questioning of your identifying with Christ and how that has changed your life and your patterns you have now. These patterns of life, one in seven, here you are on Sunday morning. What's the world say about that?

Waste of time. Know what you could be doing? You're mocked. You're mocked. You're questioned by the way you speak, by the activities, how you train your children, teach your children, for the gospel of Christ alone.

Where and how we work, being godly men and women, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, as defined by God in Scripture. You are mocked and there is a form of suffering in that. It's not the same as in some places. We have two baptisms today this afternoon And when we do baptismal interviews, one of the things we tell them is, when you're baptized here, we're very thankful when you're baptized here, it's out in the open. Anybody can come.

Maybe the world comes and they might mock it. But anybody can come. Nobody can stop us from it. But in much of the world, that public display means your family shuns you, your family kicks you out of the house, you may be threatened with death. That's in much of the world.

Go read what happens in the Middle East and Northern Africa and in China and in Cuba and in North Korea for Christians. Acts 14-22, we must go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God. It's not saying you have to have these tribulations. No, it's an evidence. And how you go through them is evidence.

Tying this up before the applications. We know Hebrews 12, 12. And I want to apply this to us here in these sufferings with Christ. Hebrews 12, verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Let's personalize that now.

I believe we should personalize that as we're being conformed to Christ. We're not taking on the wrath of God as Christ did. He did that once and for all and we don't. But we also, for the joy set before us, for the inheritance set before us, for the glorified body set before us, for the eternal life set before us, take up our cross daily, Luke 9, despise the shame and the mockery from society, friends and family for the joy set before us." That's suffering with Christ. Ephesians 6, 13, therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand an evil day, in having done all, to stand.

That's suffering with Christ, to stand. In 1 Corinthians 15 58, therefore my, this is Paul, my beloved brethren, doubles down on how much he loves them, beloved brethren. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Christians, Be assured by the Spirit. Let me give you three applications.

Three applications. Number one, relatively easy one for you. I have two resources to highly recommend to you. Two. One is by John Owen.

It's for John Owen, let me preface this, for John Owen it's a relatively easy read, only a couple hundred pages, and for John Owen it's a relatively easy read. The mortification of sin. The mortification of sin is based on the King James wording of verse 13. Mortify the deeds of the flesh. Read that or listen to it.

I highly do that. I have the last couple of weeks. Very helpful. Here's the easy one. Before you do that and take that one on, do the easy one.

Go to Chapel Library and download a small little booklet that you can read with your family in just one or two settings very easily by Rob Ventura called Adoption. And you will be so encouraged. So encouraged and so helped. Go do that one first before reading John Owen because that one's easy you're more likely to do it and get through that in just one or two settings it's very small and easy to do that. Number two, application.

We have Two people here, as I said at the beginning. We have Christians and non-Christians. It's all we have here. It's all that matters. Christians and non-Christians.

My desire again for you brethren, for Christians, is that these verses and somehow I was a help to you and if I was a help to you it's by the only by the power of the Holy Spirit to help you but that you're more assured now and that at least you know how to read Scripture and look at it to to look for your assurance and I want you to leave here more sure. If you're a Christian, I do not want you leaving here doubting. I don't. Not a bit. If you doubt more than you did before, but yet you believe you're a Christian, let's talk about it.

Let me help assure you. But if you're not a Christian, I do not want you leaving here thinking that you are. That's where most of the people fall in this church. If you're not a Christian in this church, you most likely fall in the camp of you think you're a Christian. Oh, there is the camp of I'm not a Christian, I know I'm not, and I don't want to be.

There is that. Right? There is that. But that's not predominantly what we have here with any non-Christians that might be here. Here is primarily, I think I am.

And you hear these things, and you might think some check boxes here and there, but you have never repented and trust in Christ alone for salvation. And you're fooling yourself and others, just like Judas did. That you're a Christian. Judas fooled, didn't fool Christ, but fooled the disciples. They even let him hold on to the money box.

He was the treasurer. And at some point, I believe Judas fooled himself. But at some point, he realized he was not a follower of Christ. We know that. So have you ever had the first evidence, the first evidence of assurance, by repenting and believing in Christ alone for salvation.

Before you get to all these checkboxes, before you get to anything here in 12-17, before you get to what you think you've died to, before you get to what you think you've died to, before you get to what you think you love and hate, you must start, have I ever repented, entrusted in Christ's work alone. Not my work. None of my work. Not you coming to church, not your participation in family worship, not you never getting a ticket, Not you never being arrested, not you never having a curse word come out of your mouth. On that day Christ will say, I never knew you.

If you have never repented and believed in Christ alone for salvation by faith alone. Rob Ventura, quote, never rest comfortably until you know that by the grace of Christ you have been converted and that you are no longer a debtor to the flesh, but to Christ. Never rest comfortably. If you believe you're a Christian, one of the best ways to help you rest comfortably, to be assured, if you are, if you really believe you are, then look at what happens this afternoon in baptism, Declaring before God and others what He has done for your soul. It's hard for me to believe you're a Christian.

You may say you are, it's hard for me to believe that you're a Christian if you're not willing to do that. Simple obedience. Oh yeah, standing in front of people, I get that. I used to be there. There's no way, no way I would ever stand in front of five people, much less a group of people.

Used to be. I get that. But the love for your Savior and what He's done for you would overcome that fear. You'll see Him lovingly care for you. The last one, Number three, just really a summary of where we've been.

If you struggle with assurance often, or just a little, once in a while, look for the assurances. Look for the work of the Spirit in your life. Look back. Look back and see what he's done. Look what he's doing today.

1 John 4.13, by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. So look for the putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the spirit. Look for being led by the spirit, being continuously led, that close continuous leading. Look for your crying out more often, Abba Father! Part of putting to the deeds of the flesh is considering where else am I going to get satisfaction from what only my Father can give.

Abba Father, and look at the suffering with Christ for the joy set before you, your inheritance of God and glorified bodies. Let's pray. Abba Father, Our Father, thank You for the Gospel. Thank You for the acceptance of the work of Christ. Christ, thank You for Your work.

And that You didn't leave us. Much more than that, You gave us Your Spirit. Thank You Spirit, that You would continue to indwell me, never leave me, never leave us, never forsake us, continue to grow us, conform us. Oh Spirit, please assure Your children. Assure us.

You Spirit of adoption. What a wonderful, beautiful title. You spirit of adoption assure the children of God by your work by your activity through your people. Thank you in Jesus name, amen.