In beginning work for this coming Sunday’s message I have been reading through Romans 8.\u00a0 This week (Lord willing) I will preach on the power of the resurrection to give us eternal life.\u00a0 In Romans 8 Paul makes a statement in verse 9, “. . .now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is non of His.”\u00a0 In other words, if we don’t have the Holy Spirit living inside of us then we don’t belong to Christ.\u00a0 Christ warned that there would be many who would be good church-going people who believed they were saved only to find out when they stand before Christ that they aren’t His children.\u00a0 As I read Romans 8:9 a question popped into my head, if the Spirit of God is proof of our salvation, how can we know that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us?\u00a0 We certainly don’t want to deceive ourselves and be eternally condemned when we have the chance to get it right now do we? I want to share a recent humorous story from my family’s life.\u00a0 Let me go ahead and say that I did get permission to share this one!<\/p>\n
Diana and I were preparing to take a trip last week which meant we needed to get some supplies for the kids to take to my in-laws as they would be watching the children while Diana and I were gone.\u00a0 Diana took the kids with her to Kroger to get the needed groceries.\u00a0 They got what they needed and proceeded to the self check-out.\u00a0 When it was time to pay Diana noticed something, her card was expired.\u00a0 She had the new one at home and had simply forgotten to activate it and start using it.\u00a0 She tried to use the expired one and of course it wouldn’t work.\u00a0 You can imagine what is going to happen with kids with her right?\u00a0 Our eldest son, Eli asks, “what’s wrong mommy do we not have enough money to buy the groceries?”\u00a0 “Do we not have any money in the bank?”\u00a0 You can imagine how Diana is feeling at this point can’t you?\u00a0 And you know that a small child has no clue what an “inside voice” is.\u00a0 Diana is trying to explain to our six year old that we have money in the bank, we can afford the groceries, it is simply that her credit card had expired.\u00a0 We all know the six year old children understand that concept don’t we?\u00a0 Then Diana has to explain to the Kroger worker that she will have to go get the new card and come right back to pay for it.\u00a0 Of course the Kroger worker doesn’t believe that she is coming back, but agrees to set the cart to the side until Diana returns.\u00a0 To her credit (or maybe because Kroger is the only grocery store close to us) Diana went got the new card, activated it, and returned to the store for her items.\u00a0 I tell you this story because what do you think was going through the Kroger worker’s mind?\u00a0 I imagine that they have seen this a time or two (or thousands) where people do get too much and they can’t afford it.\u00a0 I also imagine that they come up with elaborate reasons to tell the workers as to why it won’t go through.\u00a0 But the truth was, Diana simply needed her new card.\u00a0 So things really aren’t always as they seem!\u00a0 Now let’s get back to what Paul was talking about and hopefully tie this up into a pretty little bow.<\/p>\n
Remember, I asked the question based on Romans 8:9, how does a person know if they have the Holy Spirit living inside of them, which according to Scripture is proof of their salvation?\u00a0 I believe the Bible gives us at least 10 ways to know that we are saved.\u00a0 First, do you enjoy fellowship with God, Jesus, and other believers (1 John 1:3-4)?\u00a0 Essentially, do you enjoy being in the presence of God and other believers?\u00a0 Secondly, do you have a sensitivity to sin (1 John 1:5-10)?\u00a0 Is there conviction when you sin? Third, are you basically obedient to the commands of Scripture (1 John 2:3-5)?\u00a0 We all know that we are not perfect, but are we at least basically living the way we are suppose to while striving to be better?\u00a0 Next, what is your attitude toward the world and its values (1 John 2:15)?\u00a0 The Bible says that a Christian is going to live differently and believe differently than the world (Rom. 12:1-2).\u00a0 Next, do you love Jesus Christ and look forward to His coming (1 John 3:2-3)?\u00a0 Next, do you practice sin less now that you have professed faith in Christ (1 John 3:5-6)?\u00a0 Another proof of salvation is, do you love other believers (John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:14)?\u00a0 Have you experienced answered prayer (1 John 3:22; 5:14-15)?\u00a0 Next, do you have the ability to discern between a spiritual truth and error (John 10:3-5; 1 John 4:1-6)?\u00a0 Finally, do you believe the basic doctrines of the faith as taught in Scripture (1 John 5:1)?\u00a0 While this is not an exhaustive list nor did I go into great detail on each of them, hopefully it will serve as a jumping off point for you to have an honest conversation with God.\u00a0 Salvation isn’t a “hope-so, maybe-so, think-so” thing, it is a “know-so” thing.\u00a0 So if you don’t have absolute security that you are saved, go through these questions and talk through them with God and allow Him to show you whether or not you are saved, because an eternity is a long time to be wrong!<\/p>\n
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In beginning work for this coming Sunday’s message I have been reading through Romans 8.\u00a0 This week (Lord willing) I will preach on the power of the resurrection to give us eternal life.\u00a0 In Romans 8 Paul makes a statement … Read More