Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / How Can I Know I’m a Christian?

Transcript

How Can I Know I’m a Christian? · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Well we love Romans eight and last time, Pastor John,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you called it a mammothly glorious chapter, a man mammothly
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: glorious in celebrating that those who are in Christ are
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: freed from condemnation, they are empowered by the Spirit, they
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: are adopted as God's children, and utterly secure in his
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: unbreakable love. No surprise, you have this whole chapter memorized,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and you recited it in a recent prison visit the spring,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: which came with an opportunity for you to also preach
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: your highlights from the chapter. Two. We got that story
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: from you in your local prison trip on Monday last time,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: so if you're not caught up on the listening, that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: story is in the previous episode. But Romans eight is
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a glorious chapter that emphasizes the believer's union with Christ
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and that beautiful phrase in Christ. In Christ, as in
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Romans eight verses one and two, it's a union that
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: represents freedom from condemnation, deliverance from sin, and God's inseparable
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: love to us. And the chapter speaks of Christ's dwelling
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in the believer in Romans eight ten and the Spirit
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: two and Romans eight nine, verse eleven. I mean, Romans
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: eight is a rich picture of our union. But the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: question we almost resolve in the end is this one.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: How do we know? How can I know know for
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: absolute certain that I am personally in Christ? How did
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: you answer that question?
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Right? That is the bottom line, existential, frightening, glorious question.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: When I went to preach to the one hundred and
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: twenty inmate Lionel Lakes Prison a few months ago, I
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: assumed that they needed to hear and would want to hear,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: not only that Christ died to take away God's condemnation,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: but also that there is a way for them to
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: know that this applies to them personally individually. In other words,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: there is a way to know that they are in Christ,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: that they are really Christians, really saved, that they will
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: never come into condemnation. They could know this. So that
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: was the final thing that I addressed in those thirty minutes.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I felt impelled to address it as an issue of
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: assurance or knowledge that we're in Christ, not only because
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I think everybody deep down wants to know if he
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: or she is a child of God or a child
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: of wrath, but also because Romans eight deals with just
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: this question. That was the chapter I was focusing on.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: So what makes the matter so urgent in Romans eight
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: is that the chapter begins there is therefore now no condemnation.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Now the question is for whom? For whom is that me?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: For those who are in Christ Jesus. So everybody's got
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: to cry out here, am I? Everything hangs on the question.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Am I in Christ Jesus? Am I so connected with
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Jesus by faith that this death counts for me? Am
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I really a Christian? Am I saved? And Paul really
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: cares about this question. I'm not just reading in my
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: own Western individualism that everybody wants to know if they
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: belong to Christ because we're all so guilty in the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: West and we all want personal individual relationship. No, no, no,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Listen to the way Paul addresses this startling thing here
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: in verse nine. You are not in the flesh, you
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: are in the spirit. If in fact, the Spirit of
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: God dwells in you, that's a big if. Oh my goodness.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Anyone Now, notice that is singular individual Greek tists. You
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: can't get more individualistic than this. Anyone, any single person
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: who does not have the spirit of Christ does not
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: belong to him. Wow, Paul is going straight to the
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: juggler here of individuals. This is not vague general talk
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: about church or crowds, or groups or corporate identities. This
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: is me and you, Tony. Are you in Christ? Am
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I in Christ? Are the people listening right now? Are
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: they individually in Christ? So Paul has raised the stakes
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: as high as they can possibly go by saying that
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: this glorious declaration of no condemnation does not apply to everybody,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: but to those who are in Christ, to those who
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: belong to Christ. And so he moves directly bless him,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: bless him. He moves directly to answer the question how
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: do you know if you're in Christ? And he gives
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: us at least two criteria, and I'll take them one
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: at a time. Starting in verses thirteen and fourteen, he says,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: But if by the spirit you put to death the
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: deeds of the body, you will live. And we know
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: he's talking about eternal death and eternal life, because even
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: those who put to death the deeds of the body
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: by the spirit die physically. So why does he say this,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Why does he say, if you put to death the
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: deeds of the body, you will live forever. You're in Christ.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: And he answers in verse fourteen, because all who are
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Now this is how you know you are a son
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: of God who will never die. Are you led by
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: the spirit of God. But the connection with verse thirteen
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: is all important. He's giving a reason for why those
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: who put to death the deeds of the body will
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: have eternal life. And the reason is because they are
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: led by the spirit. The sons of God live forever,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: and they know who they are because they are led
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: by the spirit to put to death the deeds of
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: the body. Being led by the spirit and verse fourteen
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: does not refer to being led to the right school,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: or the right spouse, or the right diet program. It
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: refers to verse thirteen. Being led into warfare with sinful
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: temptations deeds of the body. We make war on them.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: We are led by the Spirit into hating our sin
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: and killing it. So the first way we know we
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: are the children of God is that we hate our sin.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: We take the sword of the Spirit, which is the
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: word of God, and we kill it. We make war
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: on sin in our life that's the evidence that we
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: are the child of God. This is not perfection. Don't
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: let anybody interpret me that way. This is real hate
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: and real warfare against your own remaining God dishonoring corruption,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: and every believer has it and will have it till
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: you're dead or Jesus comes. That's how you know you're
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: a child of God. All who are led by the
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: spirit into warfare with their own God belittling sins are
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: sons of God, Paul says. Then he continues with a
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: second way of knowing that confirms comes alongside this first
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: way Verses fifteen and sixteen. You did not receive the
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. You have
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: cry Abba Father, the Spirit himself bearing witness with our
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: spirit that we are the children of God. The children
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: of God are in dwelt by the Spirit of God,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: and he bears witness. The Spirit bears witness that we
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: are God's children. How does he do that? He causes
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: us to cry out from the heart, Abba Father. Now,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: of course Jesus knew there's such a thing as hypocrisy.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Many will say to him, Lord Lord on that day,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: and he will say I never knew you, because those
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: are just words in your mouth. And we know today
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: that you can tell a computer or just ask a
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: computer Alexa siri, say abba father, and the computer will
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: say it, Paul knew. And we know that it's not
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: mere words that is the witness of the Spirit in us. Rather,
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: it is the heart felt sense that I was a helpless, sinful,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: undeserving dead baby lying in the gutter outside the gates
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: of heaven, and wonder of wonders, I find myself to
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: be alive to God and welling up from some place
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: deep in my soul that I cannot explain, there is
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: a cry of a trusting child to his heavenly father,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Ahba Father. And this heart felt, authentic cry of trust
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: is the witness of the Holy Spirit that we are
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: the children of God. So that's what I said to
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: these one hundred and twenty inmates as I closed. One,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: if you hate the god demeaning ugliness of your own
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: sin and relying on the spirit, you make war on it.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: And second, if you find rising up in your heart
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: the cry, the genuine, authentic cry of a child happy
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: to be dependent on your wise heavenly Father, you can
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: know that you are in Christ and there is no
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: condemnation now or forever.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Powerful, And speaking of prison memories, I mentioned Monday
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Pastro John your two thousand and nine trip to preach
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: at Angola Prison in Louisiana. It's a notorious maximum security facility,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and how you are driven by the urge andy of
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Christ in a place where where judgment and execution is
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: just a part of the atmosphere there. And you preached
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: on John six to celebrate that Christ did not come
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: to be useful by fulfilling worldly desires that we have,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: but to become precious to us, the all satisfying bread
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: of life, to satisfy the new desires in us of
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the regenerate heart. Such a beautiful story and a beautiful
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: moment where you urged these inmates to treasure Christ above
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: all else, declaring to them that Angola was not their
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: final chapter, eternity was. And for more on that trip.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: If you want to catch up on the trip and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: what happened there, see the APG book on pages four
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: thirty one to four thirty three. Well, as you heard today,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: finding personal assurance in Christ is essential. We all must
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: give voice to that cry of a trusting child to
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: his heavenly Father that says, Ahba Father, Ahba Father, the heartfelt,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: authentic cry of trust. That plea is the witness of
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit that we are the children of God.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: So how do we live that? How do we transfer
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: this internal Abba Father plea into a life of faith
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: filled confidence. That's next time. I'm Tony Rank. I'll see
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: you on Monday.