How to Know If You're Saved: The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is a means of knowing you are saved.

“We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has givenus of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we areGod’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God andco-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we mayalso share in his glory” (Romans 8:16-17).

God’s Spirit talks to our spirit to tell us that we belongto Him. We are His children. I cannot explain it, but to those to whom this hashappened it does not need explaining.

The Holy Spirit is the present guarantee of our finalsalvation, the resurrection of our bodies:

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard theword of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were markedin him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing ourinheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to thepraise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).

“Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and hasgiven us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians5:5).

We either have the Spirit or we do not have the Spirit.Whoever does not have the Spirit does not belong to Christ. He is not aChristian. He is not saved.

“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature butby the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not havethe Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9).

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans8:14).

Have you been led by the Spirit? That is supernaturalguidance. If you have not been led by the Spirit or if you have and do notrecognize it, you should wonder if you are saved.

“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except theman’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of Godexcept the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but theSpirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in wordstaught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The manwithout the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God,for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because theyare spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things,but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: ‘For who has known themind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1Corinthians 2:11-16).

The natural man may be a genius, but unless he has theSpirit of God, the Word of God is foolishness to him.

To be continued on Monday.

 

Excerpted from Assurances ofSalvation , available at ccmbooks.org and Amazon.com.

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