Full Assurance Comes from Trusting God

Transcript

GR 1098
2/13/1983

1 John 3:19-24
Gil Rugh

The Book of I John in your Bibles and the third chapter. We're down to the closing portion of the chapter in our study. And what John has been doing in chapter 3 is laying before us the evidences of the child of God—that there are two families that are, in existence in the world—the family of God and the family of Satan. And you can recognize family members by family traits. The children of the devil manifest the characteristics of their father the devil. The children of God manifest the characteristics of their Father who is God. So that the character of life is a demonstration of which family you belong to.

Example was given of love, Cain being an example of one who hated his brother and one who did not have life. He was a murderer because the hatred, of his heart manifested itself in the murder of his brother who was more righteous than him.

The pattern or example for us as God's children is in verse 16. "We know love by this that He laid down His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." So Cain is given as an example of a child of the devil, one whose heart is filled with heart. Jesus Christ is the example of the child of God who is characterized by love and love demonstrates itself by a self- sacrificing attitude in our relationships to one another. We're not talking about love as a feeling in this passage. We're talking about love as a demonstration, as an action. That's why this kind of love can be commanded because it is something you do—not something you feel. And the love which is a feeling is a result of love displayed in action. And when you do what you should do and you sacrifice on the part of that other person and you do what is best for that person, then feelings are a result but not the cause. And that's true in the human realm and other areas. You, a man and a woman get together. They do things together. They begin to do things in appreciation for one another and the feelings develop. And you don't love certain people in the world. You've never even met them. You have no feeling for them but you have strong feelings for someone you're very close to and you have served them and loved them and the feelings have been a result. Very great danger of allowing the feelings to be the leader.

But here he's talking about the action. He laid down His life for us so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I ought to be concerned about serving you without restraint. And he starts at the ultimate. The ultimate. "Greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends." That's the pattern of verse 16. Now you back up from that. If I am willing to do the ultimate in loving you—to sacrifice my very life, then I ought to be ready and willing to give to you of my material possessions. So that's where he picks up in verse 17. "Whoever has the world's goods, beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" If I see you as a fellow Christian—that's the emphasis of brother here. I'm talking about treating the world in a certain way. We're talking about our relationships within the family. I see a fellow Christian, a member of the family who has physical needs, material needs. And I don't came to their aid. What kind of demonstration of love is that? This verse may say something about how I arrange my own finances. That I should be keeping myself free and flexible to be a help when there are needs in fellow believers' lives. Don’t have to be borrowed up and debted up and whatever else. But I ought to be available and ready. I ought not to be living perhaps at the very end of my cash flow. But there ought to be a willingness and a readiness and availability to be used of God. Much of our excuse today is—oh, I would if I could. But I need to ask myself, why can't I? Why am I unprepared when God has prepared this opportunity? I need to be ready and looking for these kind of opportunities.

Verse 18 is a transition. "Little children let us love not with word or with tongue but in deed and in truth." So our love is not just to be a verbal love. It' to be a demonstrated love. Not just a love that is sung about, a love that is taught, a love that we express in our testimonies but a love that I show by what I do. And in the context here, the concrete example is meeting one another's physical needs and being available to do that. And in the day we live with the pressures there are, God provides many opportunities for that. And as we noted in our study, need to be careful about looking to shift that off on someone else. God makes me aware of the need, then perhaps He wants to use me. Give me the privilege of being involved in meeting that need rather than looking for someone else to do it. There may be needs I can't and then I look for other believers that may help.

"Let us love in deed and in truth." And this is where we pick up with verse 19. In this section we have the great encouragement as far as our assurance. The chapter closes. Because it deals with the one area that perhaps is as great a problem in the assurance of the believer as there is and that is the feeling.
Some believers are plagued by feelings that cause them to think I 'm not a Christian and John deals with that very directly and what he's going to say is your feelings don't matter. If you feel like you're a Christian or you feel you're saved or not, there are concrete things that are a measurement that can give you assurance regardless of how you feel.

Two things we're going to look at will be the truth of God, His Word, and the Spirit of God. These things will be a clear testimony to us.

Now at the end of verse 18 he said, "let us love in deed and truth." We shall know by this that we are of the truth and shall assure our heart before Him." I take it that verse 19 connects with what precedes. "We shall know by this." What does the "this" refer to? Verse 18. "Loving in deed and truth."
And when we love in deed and truth we will know by this ‘that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before God. I'm manifesting His love. That's the pattern of verse 16. And that is an assurance. That gives me the confidence before God that I am of the truth.

Now look over in John 18, the Gospel of John chapter 18, for this expression of the truth. You see what we're talking about is a believer. A believer is one who is of the truth. In John chapter 18 Jesus spoke of this fact in speaking to Pilate. John 18:37. John 18:37. "Pilate therefore said to Him, 'So you are a king.' Jesus answered, 'You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born. For this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.'" Note this next statement. "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." To be of the truth is to be a child of God. Those of the truth hear Christ. They respond to Him. Same kind of idea as My sheep hear My voice and follow Me. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. So in I John chapter 3 when He says "By this we know that we are of the truth, we know that we are the children of God." It's by what we do. And then he goes on back in I John 3:19 and shall assure our hearts before Him. This gives confidence to our heart. Now we'll come back to that phrase.

Come down to verse 20. "In whatever our heart condemns us." The statement goes "we shall assure our heart before Him and whatever our heart condemns us for God is greater than our heart and knows all things." Whatever our heart condemns us. What he is talking about is, there is no need for a guilty conscience, a guilt complex in a believer. Nov/ my heart may be condemning me. That's what verse 20 says. But I assure my heart by my action. Now you note here that I may not have the feeling at this point. My heart may be condemning me. Would speak, my conscience may be bothering me. I may have feelings I am not worthy. I am plagued by a reality, the reality of my unworthiness, the reality of my own sinfulness. That I just couldn't be a Christian. I just can't be a child of God. Well, I assure my heart when it condemns me by my action. That's one area. We're not done. So wait until we get through here. But we assure our hearts by loving in deed and truth. I see how I respond with other believers. I see the character of God being produced in my life. That gives me assurance in my heart even when my heart is saying, You're probably not a Christian. So the feelings aren't there all the time. My heart is condemning me, but I assure my heart by what I do.

Now you have to have the total picture. I realize there's a danger. I don't want to bypass my conscience. I want to bypass that voice on the inside that's saying, You're not a child of God. I want to analyze carefully, am I a child. That's what John is doing. Here are some concrete tests to see. Because I don't always feel like a Christian. I don't always feel like one who has been cleansed and forgiven all sin. Because I'm aware of my own sinfulness. So when my heart condemns me, I can assure my heart, have a settled confidence before God regarding my salvation.

Verse 20 says God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Now important here. God is greater than our heart. The testimony of God regarding my salvation supersedes my feelings. Now that's important. Some mornings I get up—Monday morning is one of them. I don't feel saved. Marilyn would probably say I don't act if either, but I don't let her give testimonies. I don't feel saved, but you know what? I come to the Word of God and I find out God's testimony is greater than my feelings. He knows all things and I look to God, not my feelings for whether I have experienced His salvation and God's truth revealed in His Word assures me of my salvation. He assures me of my cleansing. So that's the point here in that God is greater than our heart. I know I'm of the truth. My heart condemns me but I look at my life. I see the work of God in my life. I look at His Word and see what is necessary for salvation by faith in Christ and God supersedes my heart. So I don't bypass the feelings, but I evaluate those feelings in light of the Word of God. What God has been doing in my life, what God says in the Word, and so I go on and say, It doesn't matter that I don't feel like I'm saved. Praise God that I'm saved in spite of how I feel, not because of how
I feel. Now I wish every day was those days where you know you're floating along and it just seems like you're walking hand in hand with God and those are the days—oh, I wish every moment of every day was like that. Even in those days when ray heart is saying, oh, no—not you. Whatever made you think you were a Christian in the first place and you're probably not. I come back to the Word. I come back to the work of God in my life. I see God's work in ray life. I see what God says about my salvation and His Word and God supersedes my feelings. He goes on in verse 21.

"Brethren—beloved, if our heart does not condemn us we have confidence before God." Now the following here. He is following along. What happens is, I develop the confidence. Verse 19. "We shall assure our hearts before Him in whatever our heart condemns us." So my heart is condemning me, but I have the assurance from God by the work of God in my life. So he picks up then at that point. If our heart does not condemn us because we're taking God's Word and I don't need to be condemned because of what God says, so I bring my heart into line, so to speak. I don't have those feelings near as often as I used to have them. You know in those early months, even early years, depending on the kind of teaching you were under, it seems that those feelings were there every day. But now I don't have days where I wonder—am I really saved? I have come to settled assurance before God in light of His Word. The testimony of His working in my life. The assurance of what He says in His Word has given me confidence. So if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.

Look over at chapter 2:28. "Now little children you abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence." Confidence is the privilege of the Christian. That's why I think it's such a tragedy and such a travesty that some Christians don't know the doctrine of eternal security. I am of all people privileged to have confidence before God. A confidence that supersedes even my feelings at times. The testimony of my heart because I bring my heart and my feelings into line with the Word.

Look over at the Book of Hebrews. Just take a couple of minutes to look into Hebrews. Little bit in front of I John. In the Book of Hebrews, chapter 9. Talks about this confidence that we have in Christ that you can't have apart from Christ. In Hebrews chapter 9 beginning with verse 8. He picks up with the Holy Spirit and we're going to be talking about the Holy Spirit at the conclusion of I John 3. The Holy Spirit is signifying this that the way into the Holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing which is a symbol for the present time. What he is contrasting here is the Mosaic system, with its physical tabernacle or temple, its physical practice of worship and so on with what we have in Christ, the spiritual reality. Accordingly, in verse 9, both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. In other words, under the Mosaic system they offered animal sacrifices but that did not give them a perfected conscience. They still were plagued by the reality of the guilts of sin. The reason this is that it only relates to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is to say, not of this creation—not through the blood of goats and calves but through His own blood He entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit offer Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Look over in chapter 10. He develops this same theme. Verse 1 and verses 1 and 2. "For the law since it is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year which they offer continually make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshiper having once been cleansed would no longer have had consciousness of sin. You see what you have in Jesus Christ, you have the reality of a final sacrifice that cleanses you forever from the defilement of sin. That's why I don't have to wonder about ray salvation today. There was one sacrifice for sin forever. That's where chapter 10 goes on to develop. So I come and assure my heart in light of the Word of God. Mow, wait a minute. Jesus Christ died for me and I believed in Him. That settled the issue of sin for me for all eternity. That gives me assurance. My conscience is cleansed. Under the Mosaic system they kept coming back. What happens under the legalistic systems of today? What happens in the Roman Catholic Church? They keep going and offering the mass again, which is a resacrifice of Christ. Why? There is that awareness and consciousness of guilt of sin but they can never do away with the defilement of sin by going through that physical ritual. The defilement of sin and the consciousness of that defilement can only be taken away in Jesus Christ. I realize there has to be an awareness of that for us as believers—that we have been cleansed finally. And that's the point that John has made.

Down in verses 19-22 of Hebrews 10 while you are still here. Since therefore brethren we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Christ, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil—that is, His flesh. Since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who premised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." You see the emphasis on assurance and confidence and a clear conscience that we have as believers. That's a testimony of God's Word to me. So you see God is greater than my heart. So if I have the doubts. My heart condemns me. I look at ray life. I see the testimony of my life. Loving in word and deed. I see the testimony of the Word of God and I am assured in my heart regarding my relationship to Christ. So I have that confidence, that settled assurance that we are privileged to have as believers.

Come back to I John 5, I John 3. Verse 22. "We have confidence before God." This is same idea that we were talking about, reading about in Hebrews 10. "Let us draw near with full confidence." Now we have confidence before God and whatever, verse 22, we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. Now He connects this confidence we have with the ability to ask and receive from God. Now I take it he is talking about something here that is true of all believers. The same thing we read about in Hebrews 10:19-22. "Let us draw near with full assurance." I am invited as a priest of God, represented by my high priest, Jesus Christ, to come with full confidence, assurance, into the presence of God and ask of Him what I desire. Earlier in Hebrews we were exhorted to come with boldness to throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need. I'm to have that kind of confidence that I can come into the very presence of God. That's different than cockiness. Assured confidence of the relationship that I have with God, that I can came and ask Him.

Verse 22. "Whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." Now sometimes this is taken as a condition of prayer. If you will do the commandments of Christ and please Him, you'll get your request. I take it what he is doing in verse 22 is describing a believer. Believers are those who do His commandments, keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. That's a description of a believer, not dividing between certain kinds of believers. It's dividing between those who are children of God and those who are not children of God. Those who are children of God keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing to Him. Those who are not the children of God do not. That's supported in the context here.

Look back in chapter 2 verse 3. We saw this idea of keeping His commandments. We noted it's not the Mosaic law, it's the instructions that we have from Christ and contained in the Word. They're not talking about the commandments of the Law. John uses a different word when he talks about the Mosaic Law for commandments. I John 2:3. "By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments." So keeping His commandments is a testimony that we’re believers. Believers are those who keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. How do you know? All you got to do is read the next verse. Verse 23. "This is His commandment." Back in I John 3:23. "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He commanded us." So there's the commandment. Believe and love. Now, verse 22. "Whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. What does that involve? Believe in Jesus Christ and love one another. Can you be a child of God without believing in Jesus Christ? So have a problem with those who would make verse 22 a dividing line among believers. Anyone who doesn't keep the commandment, the commandment being believe in Jesus Christ, is not a child of God and everyone who is a child of God has the privilege to ask and receive from God whatever he asks. That's the kind of confident assurance we have as God's children. Now I realize there are conditions and guidelines for our prayer life. We ask and don't receive because we ask amiss that we might consume it upon our own lusts James says. Later on in chapter 5 of I John verse 14. "If we ask anything according to His will." So I am not in the driver's seat now to come and dictate to God but I still have the full confidence and assurance just like in my earthly family. I have the full confidence and assurance when I was living at home to come to my father and ask him. But I did not come to my father with cockiness and tell him. There's a difference. But I had full assured confidence to came to my father and ask him. Now I had the confidence of that. I didn't cone fearfully. I came with assurance. That's the way it is with my heavenly Father. I can't come with cockiness and tell him what to do. Tell him what I want. But I have the privilege of coming with full confidence and asking Him and knowing He hears me and will give me as I ask according to His will.

"This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ." That's foundational and basic to everything else. And be loving one another just as He commanded us. And there's a chance in tenses that I just draw to your attention. The word "believe" is in the aorist tense which denotes a point action, something that happens at a point in time. That we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. I take it the emphasis there is on our salvation, that we came at a point in time to believe in Jesus Christ. Whether you can identify that point in time or not is not the crucial issue. The issue is, have you ever come to believe in Christ. Now that did happen at a point in time whether you can identify the exact point or not is not the issue. But when it comes and says and love one another, he changes to a present tense. Denotes something that is continually going on. That aspect. And we be continually loving one another.

So we are to have come to believe in Jesus Christ and to be continually loving one another. That faith that we have in Christ is manifested in our relationship to one another. So you see he hasn't changed the theme that he has been talking about throughout the section which Christ is an example of back in verse 16. In contrast to the unbelievers who are exemplified by Cain who have hatred in their heart? Believers in Jesus Christ, those who are loving one another. And he goes on.

Verse 24. "And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him." Again, this is further testimony to me that every Christian abides because the one who keeps His commandments and the commandments including believing in Jesus Christ, abides in Him. Let me tell you, ask you, can you believe in Christ and not abide in Him? No. Can you believe in Christ and not abide? Can you abide and not believe? No. Everyone who believes in Christ abides because the one who keeps his commandments, which are delineated for us in verse 23, believing in the name of Jesus Christ, abides in Him and He in him. Now we have stressed throughout John that abiding is mutual. A mutual abiding. So the one who keeps His commandments believes in Christ and loves believers, abides in Christ and Christ abides in him.

It's a mutual abiding and I cannot abide in Christ without His abiding in me. He cannot abide in me without my abiding in Him. That is a permanent enduring relationship. Same thing as talked about being in Christ. That's the sphere in which we live. Abiding in Christ. That's the realm in which I dwell and He dwells in me.

Jump back to John again. The Gospel of John chapter 14. Verses 16. and 17. I keep stressing this abiding because it is usually used by believers as distinguishing between believers, that there are some believers who are abiding and some not. So I belabor the point because of the different emphases. In John 14:16,17. And we're coming to this at the last part of verse 24 with the spirit. "I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, another Comforter, "another paracelete. And that word "another" as you remember when we studied John means "another of the same kind." Another helper of the same kind. In other words Jesus is saying another helper just like me. The Spirit of God being just like Jesus Christ, being the third Person of the Triune God. That He may be with you forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not know, behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Acts chapter 2, Day of Pentecost. So that everyone who has come to believe in Christ now has the Spirit of God indwell them. He abides in them forever. He's the Spirit of truth and we are those who are of the truth. We saw earlier in I John 3.

Come back to I John again. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in him and we know by this that He abides in us by the spirit which He has given us. That's an important statement. We know that God abides in our life because of the Spirit who is present in us. If you believe that it is possible for a Christian not to abide in God you have to believe that it is possible for the Spirit of God to leave a Christian. If the Spirit of God leaves a Christian, the Spirit of God is God's down payment, God's pledge of our coming redemption. You must believe that a believer can lose his security which brings you into all kinds of theological confusion for the clear teaching of Scripture. So I know that God abides in me because the Spirit of God indwells me. I know that because of what the Word of God says. I know that because of the testimony and evidence of my life that has been transformed by the indwelling Spirit of God.

Look over in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Verse 9. Romans 8:9. "However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God indwells you." Now note. You are in the Spirit if the Spirit of God indwells you. So note the mutual abiding. I am in the Spirit if the Spirit of God indwells me. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him. so either the Spirit of God indwells you or you don't belong to God. You're not a child of God. So every child of God has the Spirit of God indwelling him. And every child of God Who has the Spirit of God indwelling him, dwells in the Spirit. So there's a mutual abiding that goes on all the time. And then he goes on in the development of how this transforms the life which is crucial to I John. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. So then brethren we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, but by the Spirit we are to live.

Verse 13. All who are being lead by the Spirit are the sons of God. On down through the rest of the chapter. The point there being, the indwelling Spirit transforms our life and now we live differently. So Romans chapter 8, the section we were just looking at, is saying the same thing as I John chapter 3. You have a transformed life because of the power of the indwelling Spirit. So I John 3:24 "We know by this that He abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us. We say, isn't that subjective? Mo, it's objective because the presence of the Spirit is clearly demonstrated by transformed lives and that's why it is hypocrisy. It is foolishness to claim to be a child of God, to abide in God and have the Spirit of God abide in you and not have a transformed life. That's why John says anybody who makes such a claim is a liar. You have the eternal God dwelling in your life and you say there's no difference between you and the child of the devil. You're a new creature in Christ with the power of God resident in you and there's no difference between you and the person who's the child of the devil who has no relationship with God at all. Who would ever believe such foolishness? Yet we as Christians have been duped into thinking, Oh, I have to believe that. Yes, they says, I believe. Well, I don't want to judge them. Judge not, lest you be judged. Foolishness. It's a testimony to me. I have an assured confident heart not because I live a perfect life, but I do have a transformed life. There is evidence of the Spirit of God at work in my life and I see it. I'm not all that I should be, but I'm not what I used to be either. That's the transformation. That's the difference. Now a person there's been no change and yet they say, Oh, yes, I believed. They're deceiving themselves. So we can have full confidence before God because of the work of the Spirit in our lives. And if your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart. Here's what God has to say. Salvation is by faith in His Son. You believe in His Son you have a transformed life. The Spirit of God takes up residence within you, so if you believe the Word of God. Do you believe what the Word of God says about the Son, Jesus Christ? Do you believe what God says about believing in Him for salvation? Say, oh, yes, yes, I believe that, but I still don't feel like I'm saved. I've shared with you before.

I remember the night I w/as saved so clearly even though I was only 10. But I still remember those dear people down at the mourner's bench in an old-fashioned kind of tent meeting where, you know, they did have literal sawdust and so. And you went down to the mourner's bench at the altar call and everybody cried and all these dear people kneeling around me. I'm praying there. I was only 10.
What do you do? I wanted to be saved. I wanted to be saved before I ever got up out of the seat. I think I was saved before I ever got up out of the seat, now as I look back. But I didn't know that then. I thought you went to the mourner's bench to get saved and after you cried enough, you got saved. That's all off the side. It's my testimony. Sometime I'll give you my testimony too.

All these dear people kneel around you when you got to the mourner's bench. You know what they kept asking me? They would periodically break into our prayer time and say, Do you feel like you're saved? No. Well, we're going to pray on brother. So we prayed on. I was only 10 years old. It made an impression on me. I'm praying and praying and praying and they're praying, Oh, Lord, save him, save him, save him, Lord. Save him. And, they break in and say, Do you feel like you're saved? No. Well, I was only 10. I was getting worried. You know, I didn't think, they weren't going to let me go and I realized that. Do you know that? I was 10 but I wasn't that dumb. They are not going to let me out of this place until I say, Yes. So I made up my mind the next time they asked me, I'm saying, Yes. And lo and behold. Sure enough, came the next time, do you feel like you're saved? Yes. Oh, glory I! Quite frankly, folks, I didn't feel one bit different. Now I believe I was saved because I really wanted Christ as my Savior. I really believed He died for me. I didn't understand all the theological implications. Those dear people wanted me to saved. But you know I couldn't depend upon my feelings. It wasn't a matter whether I felt saved or not. I didn't know what it meant to feel saved? What does it feel like to be saved? How am I supposed to know when I feel saved? You know, I didn't know. I couldn't trust my feelings, but I could trust the Word of God. Fact is if I believe His Son I'm saved. And there will be the testimony of the transformation of my life. I know I ms saved that night. I believed what God said about His Son and the Spirit of God took up residence and began a transformation that made my life different. That didn't mean I became a little saint and I went to school and old St. Gilbert is among us. Obviously not. But the change began and it has continued down through today and that’s a testimony to God. So I have full confidence in my heart. God is greater than my heart. I don't trust my feelings. I trust what God says and I trust what God's doing and that together gives us full confidence, full assurance, before God that we belong to Him.

Isn't that a privilege? Isn't it amazing that God would not only save us, but want us to have full assurance and full confidence before Him, that we're His children. That affects the way I live, the way I approach things in life, to have that assurance I know who I am. I am a child of God. That's not arrogance. That's just truth. I'm a child of God. I can talk with Kim. I can ask Him. He's my Father. I'm not looking for someone to go to talk; to God for me. He's my Father. I'll go talk to Him myself, thank you. I have full assurance that He's listening, that He'll hear me. That He'll give roe the desires of my heart as I wait before Him.

What a privilege we have as believers. What a tragedy. Made a trick of the devil to get believers out here, wavering and wondering, oh, am I saved? Am I not? I wonder if I'm not. How can I know for sure? I don't feel like it. I'm not sure. When God says, I want you to have full assurance. I want you to have a heart that's assured before Me. Believe My Word. Look at the evidence of the work of the Spirit in your life, their confirming testimonies of who you belong to.

Let's pray together