Getting to Know Your Best Friend | Part 2

What's a sign that a person has the Holy Spirit in them?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. Are they like Jesus? God breathes his Spirit into us. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Christ. It is Jesus in us. His presence in us glorifies the Lord.

If you have your Bible, turn now to Romans chapter 8 as Adrian Rogers reveals the final way the Holy Spirit ministers to us in this message, Getting to Know Your Best Friend. There are three references to the Holy Spirit, and he is described three ways. For example, in Romans 8 verse 2, he is called the Spirit of Life.

Do you see that? For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. There the Holy Spirit, and the word Spirit is capitalized in my Bible, it's talking about the Holy Spirit, he is called the Spirit of Life. Your best friend is the Spirit of Life. Now go down to verse 9, and there he's called the Spirit of Christ. Notice the last part, the Spirit of God is called the Spirit of Christ. In this verse he's called both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.

Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So the Holy Spirit is called in verse 2, the Spirit of Life. He's called in verse 9, the Spirit of Christ. Now go down to verse 15, he is called the Spirit of Adoption. Now I believe in these three references you really have the office work of the Holy Spirit, your best friend, in your life. He is the Spirit of Life, he is the Spirit of Christ, and he is the Spirit of Adoption. And I want you to get to know your best friend, because this is his three-fold ministry to you. He ministers to you as the Spirit of Life, he ministers to you as the Spirit of Christ, he ministers to you as the Spirit of Adoption.

Now let's look at these. As the Spirit of Life, he gives us our life. We have life by the Holy Spirit. I don't mean existence. Even an unsaved man has existence.

He will exist forever, but he doesn't have life. Jesus said in John 10, 10, I've come that you might have life. Well how do we get this life? We receive this life by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says it is the Spirit that quickens, it is the Spirit that gives life. Now the difference between the people of the world who are religious and true Christians is this. The people who are truly saved live by the impartation of life. The unsaved live by the imitation of life.

They just simply imitate the Lord. But a Christian is somebody who has received life. Jesus said in John chapter 3, we have to be born of the Spirit.

When you're born, that's when you have life. You're born literally from above, which is life. You see, man is body, soul, and spirit. Now I know the theologians argue this and they say, no, he's just physical and spiritual.

But the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now man is more than a plant because he has a soul. Plants have a body, but they don't have a soul.

But man is more than an animal. Animals have a body and a soul, but animals don't have a spirit. Only man has body, soul, and spirit. And your spirit is that organ of knowledge, that part of your nature that enables you to know God. For the Bible says God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

And when we get saved, God's spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now I want to point this out, that man by nature is spiritually dead. He may be physically alive, he may be soullessly or psychologically alive, but he is spiritually dead until he receives the Holy Spirit. Now it is the spirit that gives life. You cannot have life apart from the Spirit of God.

You only have existence. And the reason that some people are religious but lost, they have never ever received the Pentecostal difference, the Holy Spirit of God. And that's the reason the Bible says if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. You're just dead, spiritually dead. You may have physical life, you may have emotional life, but unless the Holy Spirit has come into you, you're spiritually dead. Now your best friend is called the Spirit of life.

You have no life, no spiritual life apart from the Holy Spirit of God. Now, not only is he the Spirit of life who gives us life, but now secondly he's called the Spirit of Christ. Now what does he do as the Spirit of Christ? As the Spirit of life, he gives our life. As the Spirit of Christ, he glorifies our Lord.

He glorifies our Lord. He is called the Spirit of Christ. So it is Jesus in you who is the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Christ.

What is he going to do in you? When this man gets up and walks around, this man who has received the Holy Spirit, spiritually, whose life is in him? What is the Spirit of life? The Spirit of life is the Spirit of Christ. Now if I have the Spirit of Christ, who am I going to act like? I'm going to act like Christ. The Holy Spirit just reproduces Jesus Christ in me.

I've told you this many, many times, but I want to tell you one more time. There's only one person who has ever lived the Christian life. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. And if the Christian life is lived at your house, it will be Jesus in you. It will be the Spirit of Christ who not only gives us life, but glorifies our Lord. He is the one who makes Jesus Christ real in you.

I mean, there's no other way. Other than this, you'd just be a little cheap tin imitation of Jesus. I'm not a golfer. I've never played golf. I tried one time. I had some friends took me out, and they said, Adrian, we want you to go golfing. I said, fine, several preachers. And I'm a has-been athlete, and I thought I knew something about athletics, and I read some books about golfing, that you don't try to kill the ball.

You let the club do the work, and you follow through and keep your eye on the ball and all that. I thought they were going to be amazed at how well I golfed. But they were rolling in the grass laughing at me.

One of them said, Adrian, you look like you're trying to kill a snake. And I just said, well, until somebody teaches me how to play this game, I'm not going to fool with it. But when I was a kid and a young man, the golfer that everybody knew was Arnold Palmer. Well, I just suppose someday, or back in that day, I decided I'm going to play golf just like Arnold Palmer. And all I have to do is just say, well, what does Arnold do? Well, Arnold lines up and he hits it off the tee down the fairway. Well, that's what I'm going to do.

Well, friend, my deciding I'm going to do that, that doesn't do me any good. I mean, they're still rolling on the grass laughing at me. But if there's some way that I could put Arnold Palmer in a pill and swallow him down, and his very life would permeate me, and his mind and his senses and his coordination and his eye and all he knows about golf would permeate every bit of my being, and I would come out there on the golf course with my friends and tell them I've never done this before, but line up and hit that ball straight down the fairway and maybe birdie the first hole or two. They'd say, Adrian, that is amazing. But I'd have a secret, you see.

I'd say, well, you know, it's really not me. It's Arnold in me. Now, you say that's a silly illustration.

It is in a way. But you see, the Apostle Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Now, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life, and He's the Spirit of Christ. He gives us our life. He glorifies our Lord. He gives our life.

He glorifies our Lord. He is the Spirit of Christ. And by the way, if you want to know whether a person has the Holy Spirit, don't ask if they can speak with tongues. That's not the sign they have a Holy Spirit. Ask, are they like Jesus? Are they like Jesus? That's the sign whether or not a person has the Holy Spirit of God.

Now there's a third thing that your best friend does. He's called the Spirit of life. He's called the Spirit of Christ.

And He's also called the Spirit of adoption. Notice in verse 15 now, for you have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And by the way, if you're reading from the King James, don't let the word itself bother you as if the Holy Spirit is a thing.

That is a correct way to write that in the Greek because in the Greek the word Spirit and itself have to line up and they're both neuter, and so that's just a linguistic idiosyncrasy. But it certainly ought to say and may say, the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together. Now He's called the Spirit of adoption. What is adoption? When this was written, adoption was a process in which a man would make perhaps a son that he had sired by a slave and heir to his riches, although being the son of a slave that son would not necessarily be an heir. Or he might take another man's son just like we would do today and adopt that other man's son into his family. Adoption is a legal act where a man takes his own son or the son of another man and gives to him legal position, legal advantage, and legal privilege. Now spiritually we're born into the family of God. Legally we are adopted into the family of God. Now a man could disinherit a natural son, but he could not disinherit by law an adopted son.

It's very interesting. For example, the way they reason that is this, a natural son might be accidentally conceived. That is, we didn't mean to have a child and this child was conceived. And I don't want this child to have a part of the inheritance. But when a man adopts a child, he knows what he's doing legally and he locks himself in. Now what God is saying here is that we have the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of our adoption.

It's very interesting. Now, what does a Holy Spirit your best friend do? He gives our life. He glorifies our Lord. He guarantees our legacy.

Those are the three things. He gives our life. He glorifies our Lord.

He gives our legacy. He is the Spirit of life. He is the Spirit of Christ. He is the Spirit of adoption. Now the Holy Spirit is there to attest to and to make real what happened to you legally when you got saved.

For example, there is a new relationship. Look, if you will, here in verse 15. For we have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father. Now two words are here together, Abba Father. One is Aramaic, the other is Hebrew. Abba is not a Hebrew word, an Aramaic word and it literally means daddy or papa.

Now I'm not being irreverent. But when the Holy Spirit of God comes into you, He gives you such a relationship with the one who has adopted you that you can call Him Abba Father. Now let me tell you the difference. There were plenty of people in Abraham's day who would call Abraham Father Abraham because he was a patriarch. And we call him Father Abraham, but we don't call him Abba Abraham, just Father Abraham because we know him as the father, ruler, the patriarch. But Isaac would call him Abba Abraham or Abba Father, daddy. You see, the Holy Spirit of God with the Spirit of adoption gives us this relationship where we can call Him Abba Father.

It means very much to me. You see, I didn't understand a lot of what my dad did when I was a little boy. My dad, when I was growing up, sold automobiles. He worked for East Coast Motors and sold Buicks.

I didn't know that. My dad would go off and he would say, I have an appointment with a party. I thought, boy, he gets to go to more parties. And he'd go off to work, you know, I'm going to see a party about this or that. Now I never could figure that out until I got to be about 8 or 9, what kind of a party it was he kept going to.

It didn't make any difference to me. I didn't have to understand what my dad did. He was my daddy.

I could jump up in his lap and hug his neck and kiss him and rub his beard and play ball with him or help catch menace for him when he fished. And I loved him. He was just my dad. And I called him daddy. You couldn't call him daddy. You called him Mr. Rogers.

I called him daddy because he's my daddy. Now, dear friend, you don't have to understand God. You don't have to know how God runs this universe.

You can't understand. The ways of God are so far beyond your ways as high as the heavens are above the earth. But you can know Him.

You can know Him. You see the Holy Spirit is not given to us that we might understand God. Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Who has been His counselor? But you know God by the Spirit. And it's the spirit of adoption that shows you this new relationship, this intimacy that you have with God the Father.

But not only do you have a new relationship, listen, you have a new assurance, a reassurance. Now continue to read and look right here if you will here. It says in verse 16, and the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

That's very interesting. What does it mean the Spirit bears witness with our spirit? Well, in Galatians chapter 4 in verse 6 the Bible says that God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your heart crying, Abba, Father. God sent the spirit of Jesus into your heart crying, Abba, Father. Now why does the Holy Spirit cry, Abba, Father? Because it is the spirit of His Son. What was Jesus' favorite name for God? It was Father.

And so if the Holy Spirit is in you and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, then the Holy Spirit is saying what? Abba, Father. Abba, Father, because He's the Spirit of Christ, Galatians 4, 6. The Spirit of His Son is in your heart. And He's just saying, Abba, Father, Abba, Father. Now, when you say, Abba, Father, and the Holy Spirit is saying, Abba, Father, then His Spirit is agreeing with your spirit. You're both saying the same thing.

I mean, that's what He's saying. The Spirit agrees with our spirit. This is the way that you know you're saved. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God because the Holy Spirit and your spirit are so mingled that it is Christ in you just addressing God as Abba, Father.

Now, not only do you have a new relationship and a new assurance, but you have a new certainty, a guarantee of your riches. For He says in verse 17, here's the logic, if your children, that is, if you're an adopted child, then an heir. And not just an heir, an heir of God. And not merely an heir of God, but a joint heir with Christ. Do you know what a joint heir is?

Lawyers tell you that a joint heir means share and share alike. I don't know, dear friend, if you understand what's coming to you. But in the age to come, you're going to share and share alike with the Lord Jesus Christ because God has given you legally the position Jesus has intrinsically. You have been adopted as a son of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how blessed this is.

Now, a man could disinherit, a natural son even, but he could not disinherit an adopted son. And so, your best friend, he gives our life because he's the Spirit of life. He glorifies our Lord because He's the Spirit of Christ.

He guarantees our legacy because He's the Spirit of adoption. I want to tell you again that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Well, how do you get the Spirit of Christ? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Christ as your personal Savior and Lord.

Repent of your sin. And the Holy Spirit of God will come into you as He did into me as a teenage boy so long ago. If you'd like to be saved and be a child of God, let me help you to do it right now tonight.

And if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, to give you life, to glorify Jesus, and to guarantee your legacy, would you pray a prayer like this? Dear God, I need you so much. I know that you love me. I know that you want to save me. I confess that I'm a sinner. I confess that I'm spiritually dead, but I need life.

I need to be born again. I need to be saved. Jesus, you died on the cross to pay for my sin. You died to save me. You promised to save me if I would trust you. I do trust you, Jesus.

Would you tell Him that from your heart? Oh, Lord Jesus, I commit my life to you. I receive you now as my personal Savior and Lord. Come into my heart through your Holy Spirit. Change me right now.

Come in. I don't ask for a feeling. I just accept it by faith. I receive you by faith now as my Lord and as my Savior and as my friend. Thank you, Lord, for saving me.

Begin now to make me the person you want me to be. Help me to live for you and to never be ashamed of you. In your name I pray.

Amen. If you prayed to receive Jesus Christ just now, let us celebrate with you. Please go to our website, lwf.org slash radio, and click Discover Jesus. You'll find answers there you may need about your newfound faith.

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Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title Getting to Know Your Best Friend. This message is also part of the insightful series Foundations for Our Faith, Volume 2. With that complete collection, all 27 powerful messages, call us at 877-LOVEGOD or order online at lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Do you have the distinguishing mark of a Christian, the Holy Spirit? Remember this good news. The Spirit gives us life, glorifies the Lord, and guarantees our legacy. We hope you'll join us next time for more profound truth simply stated by Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener wrote online to let us know how these messages have ministered to him. He said, I've been so blessed by the preaching of this godly man. Dr. Rogers always made the Bible come alive for me and explained it in a way I could understand. I still listen to him through Love Worth Finding, and I'm challenged and encouraged by every message I hear.

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