We want to make the right connection
between the things that we have already investigated and that
which we will be studying in the light of verse 16 tonight.
I think it is time for us at this point of our study of this
particular subject to understand that Jesus Christ is outside
of us as the God-man. but he dwells inside of us by
or in the person of the Holy Spirit. I want to repeat that. I said it's time that we understand
this one point, and that is Jesus Christ, the second person of
the Godhead, is outside of us as the God-man. but he dwells
inside of us in the person of the Holy Spirit, the third person
of the Godhead. Thus we have mentioned two persons
of the Godhead, Jesus Christ II and the Holy Spirit III. There are two systems of error
which need to be exposed at this point of our study. It is important
that you get these two things that I'm going to mention by
way of introduction. What are they? Number one, there
are those today who look only at what Jesus Christ did in life
and in death. They look at these things objectively
Please notice what I said. They look at these things objectively
and rest on merely historical faith, without looking. to the
sovereign Spirit of God who alone can give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians
4, 6, and that, beloved, is to be viewed subjectively. Now that's error number one.
Let me repeat it again. There are too many religionists
today who simply look at what Jesus Christ did in life and
in death objectively, and they embrace these things with an
historical faith, and that's all, just a historical faith.
and they fail to look to the sovereign spirit who alone can
reveal the truth of what he did in life and what he did on the
cross, thus making the glory of God shine in their hearts,
giving to them the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That, beloved, is to be viewed
subjectively. Now that's error number one.
On the other hand, there are those who depend solely upon
something inside of them, some internal or subjective feeling
and they do not look outside of themselves and behold the
objective truth concerning the life and the death of Jesus Christ. Therefore they find that their
feeling is simply a subjective experience which does not harmonize
with the objective revelation of the truth of God's word. Now
both of those are serious errors that must be avoided. Now let's
simplify both of them. We don't want to go too fast
in this. I don't want to be misunderstood. and I won't be if you're listening. First of all, there are those
who look at the life and death of Jesus Christ objectively and
do not look to the Holy Spirit who alone can make those things
known subjectively in a real conversion experience. On the other hand, there are
those who look to themselves, to some feeling they have, and
they do not look outside of themselves and consider the objective truth
of God's Word. Now how do we know when a person
is really safe? How do you know when you're really
safe? It is when your subjective experience is in harmony with
objective truth, and only can you know it in that manner. And
there is perfect harmony in the life of a Christian, one who
is in possession of eternal life, between that which he experiences
subjectively with the objective revelation of truth in God's
Word. Now for the study of verse 16.
The Spirit himself, Paul says, beareth witness with our spirit. Before we go any further, we
must make a distinction between the Spirit of God and the spirit
of the individual. We know that the Spirit of God
is the third person of the Godhead, and we'll have some things to
say about him in a few moments. Now how does one explain the
spirit of man? What is the spirit of man? The
spirit of man is the highest part of man. I said the spirit
of man is the highest part of man. It goes beyond the soulish
part of man. The spirit is the highest part
of man. Is there a verse of Scripture
that explains to us the meaning of the Spirit of man? Yes, there
is. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We'll be referring to this chapter
several times tonight in our study of the Spirit of God bearing
witness with our spirit. Let us read beginning with verse
9. It is verse 11 to which I call attention, but I want us to get
the connection. Paul said, But as it is written,
I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. Reveal these things unto whom?
The recipients of grace, those who have been regenerated by
the Spirit of God, individuals in whose heart there has been
a work of grace, giving to them the disposition of wanting and desiring and longing
and craving for the things of God. but God hath revealed them
unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth." Look at the
word searcheth for a moment. Now this does not mean with a
view of obtaining knowledge, because after all the Holy Spirit
is as omniscient as God the Son or God the Father. but searching
all things, yea, the deep things of God. Verse 11, For what man
knoweth the things of a man, save or except the spirit of
man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. according to the middle phrase
of verse 11, the spirit of man is that part of man that is capable
of understanding things. It is the highest part of man. It is the spirit of man that
distinguishes him from the beast. By the way, last Sunday night
when I went home I was looking at some religious programs, and
I had heard that morning that the Richard DeHaan program would
have a panel of men on his program. Well, it so happens that I do
not know Henry Morris personally. But there is a pretty close connection.
Several years ago, Henry Morris' mother called me, this is while
I was pastor at Belfort Park Baptist Church, and said, Brother
Best, I want you to come by, I want to talk to you, and I
have something I want to give you. She had heard me on the
radio. Well, the main thing that Miserous
Morris wanted to do was to give me a book that had been written
by her son. And that was fine, I was glad
to get it. He's a Christian and also a scientist, and he certainly
has done, I think, a great job in showing the fallacy, the foolishness,
the heresy of the Darwinian theory of evolution. Well, when I saw
that they were going to be on this panel, I told Juanita, I
said, I'm going to tape this because I want to get some of
these things made by him remarks. And he made some very significant
statements in that program. I see Brother Dixon nodding his
head, so I suppose that he and Miserous Dixon saw that program
last Sunday evening. So what is it that distinguishes
man from beast? It is the spirit, the highest
part of man. Now we're making a distinction
between the Spirit of God, the third person of the Godhead,
and the highest part of man himself. Now in making this distinction
we must realize that it is the Holy Spirit, the third person
of the Godhead, who comes in, and this is a subjective experience. And he comes into our hearts
and bears witness And here is a point that has been debated
by graced men, but I'm going to have to believe that the preposition
with, as is used here in the King James Version, should be
used, I think it is correct, rather than say the Spirit of
God bears witness to our spirit. There are some who say that the
Spirit of God bears witness to our spirit, and they have translated
it in that manner, but from all of the information that I've
been able to gain through the years, the preposition with is
a better translation. with our spirit, and I'll say
more about that later. So the Holy Spirit of God comes
in and he bears witness with our spirit, thus giving to us
even a greater assurance of our relationship to God. Now, there are differences of
opinion on this subject, and I'm going to share a few things
with you along this line. And there are some things, Paul,
that I cannot endorse. I'm not going to give the names
of some men tonight unless you request that I do so, and if
you do, I will. And I'm not going to do it for
a reason tonight. I'm afraid that some of you,
if I were to give the names of these with whom I disagree, you'd
say, The preacher's trying to be smart again, and so I'll just
close my mind to what he has to say. Now let me inject a thought
at that point. How do you study the Scriptures? I'm asking you a real personal
question now. How do you study the Scriptures?
Do you study the Scriptures by by coming to a conclusion as
to what you believe without even getting the evidence first of
all. I'm afraid there are too many people today, when they
study the scriptures, they have formulated an opinion of their
own. And after having formulated an
opinion of their own, then they start reading the works of men,
and when they read some statement made by an individual that agrees
with their preconceived idea, they say, Oh, there's somebody
who agrees with me, and they rejoice. And so then they read
on a little further, and they find somebody else who makes
a statement that is in harmony with what they have previously
adopted, and they say, oh, here's somebody else that agrees with
me. Now this must be true. This must
have some validity to it. Is that the way to study the
Scriptures? It is not. Beloved, when you and I study
the Scriptures, We are to lay out all the evidence, and after
having laid out all the evidence, then we are to consider what
really harmonizes with the Scripture as a whole, and reject that which
does not. Now I'm going to give you two
statements. I'm not going to give you the name. However, if
you say, Preacher, would you please give us the name, I'll
do so. But I'd rather not at this point, because both of these
men are well respected. I've admired them through the
years. I have received a great amount of help from their works.
But I cannot embrace what either one is saying on this particular
subject. Now listen to this. One man in
a sermon on Psalm 35, verse 3, and here is the statement, Say
unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Here is his comment on that text
in his sermon, quote, God has a way of speaking without the
word. Would you let that soak in? And without the ministers to
our hearts. We know not how it is, but sometimes
there is a deep, sweet calm, end of quote. Now there is one statement in
that with which I disagree, and I disagree without any reservation
whatsoever. What is it? God has a way of
speaking without the word. I cannot accept that. Now let's go back for a moment.
It is true that in the Old Testament before the completion of the
revelation of God's mind recorded in the Scriptures, that God spoke
directly to certain individuals. Now we studied this quite extensively
in our development of Hebrews 1, 1 through 3, do you remember? But now We're living under the
dispensation of grace. We have a completion of the mind
of God for his people in the scriptures. The Word of God has
been completed. Keeping in mind now Hebrews 1.1,
God who at sundry times and in divers manners has spoken in
times past by the prophet unto his people, but in these last
days he has spoken unto us by who? His Son! His Son! The Last! The Highest! and the final revelation of the
mind of God to his people. It's complete. I want to show you that whenever
a person believes that, that can be carried to very serious
conclusions. And any person who has a feeling
can say, now I feel this way about it. And another person
can say, preacher, I feel that way about it. And the third person
can say, but I feel differently about it. I don't agree with
either of you. And all is relying on his subjective
feeling, without any foundation, objectively speaking. That's serious. That's dangerous. Now there's another quotation
I want to give. I have just gone through the
works of this man, and this man has quite a few volumes, so you
may know who I'm talking about. He has a lot of truth, and I've
been helped greatly by him. But he says, that this speaking
by God the Holy Spirit to the spirit of the individual might
be classified as a baptism in the spirit experience, and I
cannot accept that either. I cannot embrace that theory.
That also can lead to very serious consequences. Now let me give
you a statement by Robert Haldane, a Puritan. Robert Haldane says
that the Spirit of God, bearing witness with the Spirit of the
Christian, he says, this is a subsequent work to regeneration and faith. I agree. The Holy Spirit gives
faith And he also seals the faith after faith has been given. I
like that. He seals the faith after the
faith has been given. The love of God's scripture for
that we return with me to Ephesians 1, Ephesians chapter 1, and let
us read verses 13 and 14. And notice the order here in
these verses. Let's stay with the scriptures.
in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." which is
the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of his glory." You'll notice the
sealing is subsequent to believing, and the believing is subsequent
to regeneration. So you have the subjective work
You have the person in whose heart there has been a work of
grace, then believing and accepting the glorious gospel, which is
the objective message of Jesus Christ, and then comes the sealing
of the Holy Spirit. And the sealing is subsequent
to what? The believing. There's the order. and a very important order. This
is exactly what we have here in Romans chapter 8 as we have
been studying beginning with verse 14. So you have to be careful
about this concept of the Holy Spirit speaking to the spirit
of the believer without or apart from the Word of God. You also have to be careful about
saying that this could be a kind of a baptism in the Spirit experience,
because that also can lead to very serious errors and consequences. Now, what are we to believe?
Well, we're going to spend some time on this subject tonight.
I've outlined it for you, and I'm going to give several points
under each major heading I hope to go slow enough in order that
you can take some notes on this most important point. Calvin
makes this statement, quote, Paul means that the Spirit of
God affords us such a testimony that our spirit is assured of
the adoption of God when he is our guide and our teacher, end
of quote. Now, point number one, the Holy
Spirit is the first witness in this assurance of salvation that
is expressed by Paul in verse 16. The Spirit himself beareth
witness not to, but with our spirit. The Holy Spirit is the
third person of the Godhead. and the Holy Spirit is God himself. Proof of it, Acts 5 and verse
4, and Acts 28 and verse 25. There is no doubt in the mind
of any Christian tonight that the Holy Spirit is God, but he
is referred to as God in the passages which I have mentioned.
The Spirit is a distinct person within the Godhead. Therefore,
he has a distinct work to perform in the Trinity. Just as the Father
elected us to salvation before the foundation of the world,
just as Jesus Christ purchased our salvation in his redemptive
work on the cross 2,000 years ago, So the Holy Spirit applies
that redemptive work, and there is something else for him to
do, and I'll mention several things that he does. Listen to
this. We have seen in our studies that
the Holy Spirit was active in creation, Genesis 1 and verse
2. The Holy Spirit was not only
active in creation, but he is active in all miracles. First
Corinthians chapter 12, he is active in the calling and sending
forth not only the prophets of the Old Testament, but the apostles
of the New Testament. He is also active today in calling,
in equipping, and sending forth those who may call to preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ. He was also active in the incarnation,
Luke 1 and verse 35. He is active in illumination
as well, of course, as inspiration. He was active in the inspiration
or the inspiring of the prophets and the apostles. Now, God does
not inspire preachers to speak as he inspired the prophets and
apostles. Beloved, I'm not inspired to speak to you. I can be led
by the Spirit, but I do not speak by inspiration. When you hear
these people today talk about being, and they're speaking by
inspiration, they're lying through their teeth. They don't even
know how to distinguish things that differ. All you have to do is listen
to them for a few minutes and you'll find out. that they're
not speaking by inspiration. If they were speaking by inspiration,
everything that they say would be absolutely correct. Because everything the apostles
and the prophets said as they were speaking by inspiration,
those things were absolutely correct. I speak from inspiration,
not by inspiration. But I am illuminated. And it is true that at times
I have greater liberty in preaching than I do at other times. And
I'll explain the reason for that in a few moments. So the Holy
Spirit has been active in inspiration. He is now active in illumination. Our minds have to be illuminated
in order to understand the Scripture. And we'll see more about that
in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 in a few moments. He's active in
regenerating or applying the redemptive work of Jesus Christ
to the hearts of the elect. He is active in adoption. And
the passage we're studying tonight, he is active in bearing witness
with the spirit of redeemed people. Now think about this. Beloved,
the subject is so big. you never do get through studying.
As I was thinking along this line this past week and in preparing
this outline that I'm giving tonight, I came across something
that was such a blessing and sure did explain a lot of things
better for me. The Spirit condescends in order
to come into your spirit and bear witness with your spirit,
thus giving to you greater assurance of your salvation. There is condescension
on the part of the Holy Spirit of God to come into your spirit
and bear witness with your spirit. Now, how am I going to illustrate
that great truth? Do we have an analogy for it?
We surely do. The analogy is the condescension
of Jesus Christ. Now, follow me carefully. Please
do. I think this will be helpful
to you. So the condescension of the Holy Spirit coming into
our spirit and bearing witness with our spirit, thus giving
to us a greater assurance of our relationship to God, is to
be explained by the analogy of the condescension of Jesus Christ
when he came into this world. He who was rich became poor that
we through his poverty might become rich. Now, Christ came
into this world, when he did, he assumed a human nature. Beloved, when he assumed a human
nature, get this point please, we have a modification of the
manifestation of deity during the time that he veiled himself
in human flesh and walked among the sons of men. Can you deny that? I said there
was a modification of the manifestation of the glory of God during that
time. How do I know that to be true?
no man can look upon God and live, the Bible says. That's
the only way that man could look upon Jesus Christ, the second
person of the Godhead, was for the Son of God to veil himself
with human nature. And in doing this, there was
a modification of the manifestation of deity during the time that
he walked among the sons of men. That cannot be denied. Now let's
look at the Holy Spirit in this life. I said the Holy Spirit
condescended when he comes into our spirits, thus giving to us
a greater assurance of our relationship to God. I came across this thought
in some research work I was doing this past week, and oh what a
blessing it was to my heart. Listen now. the operation of
the Holy Spirit in the human spirit is not the same as the
spirit apart from the human spirit. Any more, any more, I add this,
any more than the operation of the eternal Son of God apart
from the Son of God's operation during the time that he veiled
himself in human flesh walking among the sons of men." Now listen
to this person. The Holy Spirit in the human
spirit is not the same as the spirit apart from the human spirit. Working in man, the spirit is
found in fashion as a man. Oh, listen to that. Working in
man, the Holy Spirit is found in fashion as a man. Now listen carefully. Apart from
the human spirit, the witness would shine like the perpetual
star. In other words, take the Holy
Spirit Apart from the human spirit, the Holy Spirit would shine like
the perpetual star. But beloved, that is not the
case when the Holy Spirit shines through the human spirit. Listen
now to this person who said this, and in all of my years of study,
I've never come across this explanation, and this is the greatest on it
that I've ever read. However, he said, in the spirit
of the believer. The Holy Spirit burns like a
flame, not like the perpetual star. He burns like a flame,
sometimes brighter than at other times. That's why, beloved, you
and I are exhorted by the Word of God to quench not the spirit,
grieve not the spirit. Do you see what I'm talking about?
Groove not the spirit who is within you, quench not the spirit. Now, regeneration is succeeded
by confirmation. Do you believe that? I do. I
believe that regeneration is succeeded by confirmation. I've experienced it, and every
person who is a recipient of grace has also experienced this
that I'm talking about. And this is exactly what we have.
Not only does the Holy Spirit come in, the spirit of adoption,
enabling us to cry, I'm a father, but now he's expanding on that. Paul goes a step further to give
added assurance of one's relationship to God. The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit, thus giving to us assurance of our
relationship. Yes, a greater amount of assurance
of our relationship to God. So the act of regeneration, please
follow me, is succeeded by the act of confirmation. I said the
act of regeneration, that's subjective. And I've never taught anything
else but that. Regeneration is subjective. So the act of regeneration
is followed by the act of confirmation. The Holy Spirit who regenerates
also confirms to the believer what has taken place in his heart
and life. And I'm not going to leave you
doubting tonight as to how this is done either. I'm going to
prove to you from the Scriptures how this is done. Now, the substance
of our conviction is not directed to our feelings about God. Listen
carefully. I'll repeat that. The substance
of our conviction is not directed to our feelings about God. I
said the substance of our feelings is the Holy Spirit of God within
us. That's the substance. Now listen
carefully, and I'm calling attention to this because this is important.
It is not our feelings about God. But it's God's feelings
about us. Are you following me? It is not
your feelings about God that the Holy Spirit is confirming.
It is God's feelings about you that the Holy Spirit is confirming.
Now let me prove a point. Our convictions are ours because
they're God's convictions. Isn't that true? If your convictions
are not God's convictions, you don't have any convictions. It's
just that simple. If your convictions are something
that you have formulated in your own mind, you don't have any
convictions. If your convictions are not God's convictions, you
don't have any convictions. But if your convictions are God's
convictions, you have assurance. and it is God's feelings about
you that the Holy Spirit confirms, elected in Jesus Christ before
the foundation of the world, chosen in Jesus Christ, redeemed
by Jesus Christ on the cross, regenerated by the Holy Spirit,
set apart by the Holy Spirit, These are the truths that the
Holy Spirit of God confirms to the heart of the one who is saved
by his grace. Not your feelings about God,
God's feelings about you. Don't tell me about your feelings
about God, unless you can talk about God's feelings about you
first of all. And your feelings about God,
if they're scriptural, are because of God's feelings about you?
Let's put things in their proper order. That's just like we love
God because he first loved us. We seek God because he first
sought us. Religionists change the order
entirely. I said entirely. This morning
I was wakened by the Billy Graham hour. And as usual, another Arminian
message. He said, now, I'm just going
to tell you the story of Luke 15. I'm not going to read it
because it's a lengthy chapter. And so he started out, he said,
now, there are three parts to this story. I tell you, he really
did prepare at speech, and that was his last one in this great
campaign that he disclosed in Cincinnati. And I'll make it
So he went on to the last part, the prodigal son. He said, now
here's what I want to emphasize. He said, the time came in the
life of this prodigal boy. He said, Dad, he's telling a
story. Dad, I want that portion of money
that belongs to me. And the father was a little leery
of giving the son that portion, which was his, because he was
afraid of what he would do. as we tried to talk him out of
it. Oh, he said, I want to get out on my own, and I want that
which belongs to me. I want to get on my own. I want
to make my own way, and some of these days I'll come back,
and I'll show you what I've been able to do. And so he took it
left, and then he presented the father as God sitting on the
porch of his farmhouse, looking down the lane hoping that he
would soon come home. Oh, son, won't you please come
home? Just looking, longing, and hoping
that he would come home. Brother, he missed the story
completely. I'd like to write to him and say, won't you read
it again? Won't you read it again? He missed
the story completely. But that's your Arminianism. That's it, pure and simple. That's
all you hear. That's like another fellow I
heard yesterday answering some questions. Someone had written
him a letter, and this lady was deeply disturbed. She said, I
have brought up my children in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord, according to Ephesians 6. And she said, I've claimed the
promise of Proverbs 23, 6. train up a child in the way he
should grow and when he grows old he'll have to depart from
it and she said my children have left home and one has finished
college and oh he has a warped opinion of things now and I'm
greatly disturbed And I was talking to my pastor about it recently,
and I said, I brought up my children in the nurtured admonition of
the Lord, and I'm claiming that promise. Does that mean that
God will save my children? And she said, my pastor said,
no, there's no guarantee that God will save your children because
of that. And she was indignant about it, and so she wrote Thurber
McGee. And so Thurber McGee took it
up and he said, Oh boy, he lambasted that preacher. And here's his
reply. He said, I want you to know,
I claim that promise. And we have many evidences here
in our office of people saved at 60 years of age, 70 years
of age, 80 years of age, and a few over 90 years of age. And he said, if your children
aren't already saved, I ought to tell you they will be saved. You've got to be a great theologian
to make a statement like that. That's why I've nicknamed it
Fibber McGee. Beloved, isn't that awful? Isn't
that ridiculous? Listen now, our convictions are
ours because they're God's. I like what one man said. quote,
our own spirits possessed them, but they did not originate them. Our spirits possessed these convictions,
but our spirits did not originate these convictions. These convictions
were originated by the Holy Spirit of God and brought to our hearts,
tapping them upon our hearts. through the instrumentality of
the word, as I'm going to show in a moment. Paul puts it forcibly when he
says in Galatians chapter 4, And because ye are sons, God
has sent forth his Spirit into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. This information could never
have been received on the authority of either man or angel. You know why? Because such a
subject is beyond their problems. Now to show you the heresy of
our time. Today preachers will hand you
a little tract, four laws. four spiritual laws. And then
when you quote those four spiritual laws, then the preacher will
say, you're saying you have assurance, thus giving assurance to a person
who doesn't have any. That's a sign he's a heretic.
I don't care who he is. He's a heretic. Only the Spirit
of the Living God can give to you and to me this assurance. I can't give it to you. No preacher
can give it to you. Only the Sovereign Spirit can
do it. All the preacher can do, follow me now, is to give the
Word of God, and the Holy Spirit uses that Word to give assurance
to the hearts of those who have been regenerated. So this confirmation could never
be received on the authority of either man or angel. It's
beyond the province of both. So beware of the preacher who
gives assurance to a religionist where no assurance exists. Let me ask you some questions.
Are your eyes open If they are, it was the Holy
Spirit who opened them. Are your eyes open? If they are, it was the Holy
Spirit who opened them. Question number two, is your
conscience awakened? If it is, it was the Holy Spirit
of God who awakened your conscience. Does your will yield to the will
of God? If it does, it is the Holy Spirit
that causes you to be in subjection to the will of God. Is your heart at peace with God? If it is, it is the Holy Spirit
of God who has given to you that peace that passes all understanding. Now we come to the second part. We have seen who the Holy Spirit
is and what the work of the Holy Spirit is. Now, the spirit of
the believer is the second witness in the assurance of salvation. Not the first, but the second. Distinction is thus made between
God's spirit and man's spirit. It is not our spiritual life
that bears this testimony. I said it is not our spiritual
life that bears this testimony that we're talking about. This
is something within the individual. This is a subjective experience
within the individual. When a person is led by the Spirit,
he is led by the testimony of Scripture, therefore he is led
by objective truth. But this is something that takes
place within the individual. within the individual. I like
what one man said, the testimony is not some emotional feeling,
because that would be man's spirit bearing testimony with itself. Please let that soak in. It is
not some emotional experience that you have, because if that
were true, your spirit would simply be bearing testimony with
itself. But the Spirit of God bears witness
with your spirit, and your spirit bears witness with the Spirit
of God. To be a child of God is a privilege
marked by greatness. I want to summarize a lengthy
article I read with just a few words. There must be a fact before
there can be evidence of the fact. Will anyone doubt that? I said there must be a fact before
there can be evidence of the fact. Now, the greatness of salvation
began with divine election, effectuated by redemption and regeneration. Now let me pause there a moment.
Salvation began with divine election, which is despised by the religions,
but loved and cherished by Christians. You see, that's a strong statement.
I meant for it to be. I meant for it to be. Now, this
salvation that began with divine election was effectuated by the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ. That is the objective work accomplished
by Jesus Christ on the cross. But we must not stop there, because
the effectuation that began there in the finished work of Jesus
Christ on the cross is continued by the Holy Spirit regenerating
the individual, and that, beloved, is subjective, not objective. Now listen to the last part.
Now we're talking about confirmation. So the greatness of salvation
that began with divine election, effectuated by the redemptive
work of Christ and the regeneration by the Holy Spirit in the heart
of the individual, is confirmed, follow me now, by instruction
and divine resemblance. As it is confirmed, number one,
by instruction. The instruction is to be viewed
subjectively, whereas the resemblance is seen objectively. You don't see my heart. I don't
see your heart. You only see what I do. You hear
what I say. You see as it were my manner
of life. And the likenesses are the resemblance. It isn't perfect and never will
be perfect as long as I am here in this world, and neither will
your resemblance be perfect. But there are resemblances in
the life of every person who has been saved by the grace of
God. But now the knowledge is something that is subjective. It's a subjective experience.
And the resemblance is the objective side of this great truth. So
the fact began, fact of forgiveness for instance, began in the mind
of God. I said it began in the mind of
God. And since man does not know the things of God, 1 Corinthians
2 verse 11, since he does not know the things of God, the Holy
Spirit of God must take the things of God and reveal them to him,
and this is done through the instrumentality of the Word.
Not apart from it, but by it. Now I want you to turn, if you
will, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I'm going to call
attention to four things. Will you take notes? Beloved, you want to know. I
do. And I tell you, when you know
the truth, you have strong conviction. And when a person does know the
truth, there is no conviction, because conviction is based on
truth. Everything other than that is just an opinion. Now, the four things, I'm going
to mention these things before we read these verses beginning
with verse 12. The witness of the Holy Spirit
is further explained by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now,
the things that I want to relate to you are, number one, God has
revealed spiritual things by his Spirit, verse 10. Would you
read that verse with me? Look at your Bibles now, 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. So the witness of the Spirit,
as it is further explained by Paul in this passage, we're told,
number one, God has revealed spiritual things by his Spirit. Number two, those things are
known by the Spirit. Man, apart from the grace of
God, does not know and can never know the things of God. Proof
of that, look at the 14th verse. But the natural man received
not the things of God, of the Spirit of God. Why? Their foolishness
unto him. Now when you start talking to
some church member this next week or this week, while you're
witnessing, and he wants to talk about all the activities of his
church, and you say, I'd like to talk to you about Christ,
I'd like to talk to you about the omniscience of God, the omnipotence
of God, the omnipresence of God, the holiness of God, and he just
turns around and walks off, you can rest assured of one thing,
he doesn't have the Spirit of God. He's a natural man. He doesn't
have anything in common with you at all. Look at the 14th
verse. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Why? They're foolishness unto
him. He'd rather talk about playing ball. He'd rather talk about
the WMU, the brotherhood, or something else. He can't talk
to you about spiritual things because he doesn't know anything
about spiritual things. I know whereof I speak. That's number
two. So those things are known by
the Spirit. Number three, those things that
are known by the Spirit are communicated in words which the Holy Spirit
teacheth. Now look at verse 13. Which things
also we speak, not the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. And number four, they are spiritually
discerned, verse 14. Now here are the four things.
In verse 10, what? God has revealed spiritual things
by the Spirit to those who are his people. Those things are
known by the Spirit, number three. Those things that are known by
the Spirit are communicated in words which the Holy Spirit teaches. And number four, they are spiritually
discerned by individuals in whose hearts there has been a work
of grace. I'm not through yet. This subject
gets better all the time. the spirit's witness with the
believer's spirit that he is a child of God is not some vague,
follow me now, some mystical experience But it is accomplished
by making the testimony of Holy Scripture meaningful to the person
who has been saved by the grace of God. That's how simple it
is. Now I want to prove something to you. Will you look at the
same passage? Look at verse 15. I didn't see
this until recently as I kept probing and digging into this
text. Let's read it. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judge of no man. Then verse 16, For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ. Now listen to these three things.
The believer in Jesus Christ is assured of these three things. Number one, he is assured of
his identity, born spiritually. Born spiritually. Verse 15. Number two, he is assured of
his ability Judgeth all things. Look at your marginal reference
in your wide margin Bible. Discerneth all things. That means
the person who has been saved by the grace of God has the spirit
of discernment. Beloved, I'm leery of religionists
who have no discernment, aren't you? I believe that the person
who has been saved by the grace of God has discernment. He's able to discern spiritual
things. And that's what it says. So number
one, he's assured of his identity, and it's been a spiritual birth. Two, he is assured of his ability,
he is capable of spiritual discernment. And number three, I like this
one. He is assured of immunity. Immunity! What do you mean? He is not discerned by others. Look at your marginal reference
again. He's not discerned by others. What I'm saying, beloved,
is this. The Christian is as big an enigma
to the world as the Bible itself. Did you get what I said? People
of the world do not understand the Word of God. And as they
do not understand the Word of God, they don't discern the Scriptures.
Neither does this world and neither does an unsaved person discern
the child of God. So here are three things that
Christian is assured of what? his relationship, his identity,
he's born of God, he's a spiritual person. Two, he's assured of
his ability, there is spiritual discernment. My sheep hear my
voice and they follow me, and the voice of a stranger they
will not follow. That's discernment. And three,
He's assured of immunity. He's not going to be discerned
by the unsaved. Now, the believer's inner witness
is not so much an emotional feeling as it is a procession. The ministry
of the Holy Spirit in the elect of God is twofold. Number one,
that we might know the Lord through regeneration that results in
conversion. And two, that we might know the
word of God through revelation that results in illumination. I will repeat that again. I say the ministry of the Holy
Spirit to you and me is twofold. that we might know the Lord through
regeneration and in conversion. And two, that we might know the
word of God through revelation and illumination. And illumination. It is false
to assume that one cannot have a present assurance of salvation. There are many religionists today
who say you can't have any assurance. Why, beloved, even Old Testament
saints had assurance of their salvation. Job said, I know that
my Redeemer liveth, and that at the latter day he shall stand
upon the earth, and though worms destroy this body of mine, this
flesh of mine, yet in my flesh shall I see God. He had assurance. David had assurance, he said,
restore to me the joy of my salvation. He knew he had assurance of salvation,
and he knew he had lost salvation, but he had lost the joy of it.
And you and I, sons of God under grace, have even a greater assurance
than the patriarchs had under the old dispensation. Here's where adoption comes in
again, and I don't have time to go back to it and emphasize
it again, but oh, it plays a very important part in this point
that I've just made. A man is no better than his conviction. What is yours? What is yours? A man is no happier than his
assurance. What is yours? A man is no more
sure than his anchor. What is your anchor? Now in closing,
notice the preposition with. There are some who render this,
the Holy Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit. And they state it in that manner
because they say that the human spirit cannot understand until
the Holy Spirit has revealed things to us. That's true. I
don't deny that as being a biblical fact, but that is not what this
particular text teaches. Please notice the preposition
with. The Holy Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit. So the inner spirit is not merely
an abstract testimony to our feelings, it is rather an affinity
with our spirit. I said an affinity with our spirit. And this is possible because
in regeneration we have been given a new spirit. Ezekiel 36, verses 25 through
27. The new spirit means a spiritual
nature. Now to give a quotation. Before regeneration, this man
said, the spirit of man was at enmity with God. After regeneration,
the spirit is affinity. is an affinity with God. Thus the Holy Spirit, in affinity
with our spiritual nature, here it is, makes the testimony of
Scripture meaningful. I want to give that again because
that's it. That's summing it all up in one statement. Listen
to it. The Holy Spirit, in affinity
with our spiritual nature makes the testimony of Scripture meaningful. That's why the Word of God means
so much to the Christian. It's his anchor. It's the basis
of his conviction. You know, there's a statement
that I learned in the very beginning of my Christian life, and that
was this, and it came back to my mind. because it's the foundation. And you can't get away from foundational
truths. It is the blood of Jesus Christ
that makes us saved. And it's the word of the living
God that gives us assurance. It's the blood that makes us
saved. It was the blood that had been
sprinkled over the doorpost and little, that made the children
of Israel safe from the avenging angel. It was a spoken word of
God to the Israelites that gave to them assurance. I must not
close without making this distinction. As important as assurance is,
there is a difference between salvation and assurance thereof. There is a difference between
relationship with God and assurance of that relationship. But when
the Spirit of God begins something in his own, he doesn't do a half
job. What he starts, he's capable
of completing. So he regenerates, then he comes
in, gives the spirit of adoption, he comes in bearing witness with
our spirit and making the word of the living God meaningful
to his people. There isn't anything that rejoices
my heart any more than the study, the meditation, and the assurance
that comes through the word of the living God which he has given
to me.