THE TEST FOR KNOWING IF YOU ARE UNDER THE BONDAGE OF SIN AND DEATH
The Proof of Assurance of Salvation Test
Romans 8:15 Series 45.115
Charles e Whisnant, Romans 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you
have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba ! Father !" (NASB: Lockman)
For the Spirit which you have received is
not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have
received the Spirit producing sonship in the bliss of which we cry Abba Father.
Amplified
Nor are you meant to relapse into the old
slavish attitude of fear you have been adopted into the very family circle of
God and you can say with a full heart, “Father, my Father. Philipps.
BONDAGE
1397
·
Slavery, bondage, the condition of a slave
·
That which will prevent him from freely
possessing and enjoying his life, and is not in liberty to freely love God. He
has an enslaved moral or spiritual condition characterized by fear of breaking
rules and therefore experiencing repression or burden, and lack of freedom.
·
Those who are in the flesh or unbelievers who
are enslaved to Sin and the Law and receive the wages of Sin which is death
which is a cause of fear.
·
Its no matter how witty, intelligent, clever
one may manage to mask or deny the reality of it, sinful men are continually
subject to fear because they continually live in sin and are therefore
continually under God’s judgment for Jesus did say in John 3:18…”He who
believes in Him is not judged, he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
·
The unbelievers are governed by a slavish and
anxious apprehension of God’s righteousness and ultimately fear of eternal
death in the Lake of fire, even though they have no idea of its true horrors
Mark 9:48
BUT
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SAVED, HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF SLAVERY THAT LEADS
TO FEAR. Romans 8:15
Now why is this so important to us? It is most important and helpful from the
idea that Paul is giving us the assurance of salvation and the assurance of our
sonship of God.
What I want to try to express today is
this: A very good proof that if you at
one time have been under this slavery attitude and been in this spirit of
bondage and of fear of its end results than is a great test to apply to what
may appear to be the Spirit of adoption.
As Marty Lloyd Jones has stated, it is
impossible to have the Spirit of adoption without having first had the spirit
of bondage. You had been in a condition
of being controlled by something (sin)
that limited the freedom.
George Whitefield said as much:
“First
we hear Moses’ voice, one hear the voice of the law. There is no going to Mount
Zion but by the way of Mount Sinai: That
is the right straight road. I know some
say, Whitefield says, “they do not know when they were converted; those are, I
believe , very few, generally though, I may say almost always, God deals
otherwise. Some are, indeed, called sooner by the Lord than others, but before
they are made to see the glory of God, they must hear the voice of the law; so
you must hear the voice of the law before every you will be savingly called
unto God.”
Whitefield was one of the greatest preachers
of his time that delighted in preaching the gospel of salvation, and he said
“First we hear Moses’ voice, the voice of the law.” No going to Mount Zion (Calvary) but by way
of Mount Sinai.”
YE HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE
(SLAVERY) AGAIN TO FEAR.”
Yes you once did receive it, but
that is not what you have received now.
As I have previous mention of the many
characteristics of the sons of God, one is you are now no longer under this
slavish this loyalty to some cause, this showing total unquestioning obedience
or devotion, this complete it seems lack of originality or independence of thought
This is gone, and has been replaced by the
“Spirit of Adoption.”
One of the most powerful bit of evidence is
that you have been saved, and have assurance of that salvation is that you no
longer have the spirit of fear and of this kind of slavish feeling. It has
really disappeared.
The old spirit is g-o-n-e.
Of course this is not a new idea of Paul,
even in Romans. Its in Romans 5, Romans
6 and Romans 7:4
Then we come to Romans 8 and in the very
first verse this reverberating statement: “THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO
CONDEMNATION’ there can never be – “to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
The very first work of the Spirit upon us is
to deliver us from that spirit that we had before we believed. That is
salvation that is Christianity that is our assurance that we have really been
adopted by God as one of these children.
The moment that we see His glory the spirit
of fear and of slavery disappear. They
cannot exist together
Really to know the truth about the Lord Jesus
Christ, and to have it applied to us by the Holy Spirit, it becomes impossible to prevent or to avoid
the deliverance of this spirit of bondage and fear.
WELL
YOU MIGHT SAY THAT THIS POINT: 1st
question: “Now that is very nice, that is quite comforting, I like to hear it,
but there are other verses that mention that we should fear. Philippians
2:12-13, 2 Corinthians 5:11; Hebrews 12:25-28.
Then we seek to give an
explanation.
We must note that there is an essential
difference between a “spirit of bondage and of fear’ and “reverence and godly fear.”
So
how can we do both? The
exhortation is to remember always who God is, and what God is. We are not
approach God as if he was just another friend.
We are to remember always that God is a consuming fire, and we must as a
result always approach Him with “reverence and godly fear.
A
2nd question you might ask:
Are
you saying that if a Christian has lost the spirit of bondage and of fear, that
it means that they will never again feel depressed, and will never have a sense
of abandonment? That is feeling that God
has turned His back on you?”
Are
you saying that if I on occasion feel depressed and uncertain, does that prove
automatically that I am not a Christian?
