ASSURANCE CAN BE KNOWN

“…true belief in Christ may be discerned and known” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p187).

“The Spirit came upon Jesus Christ as the proof of God’s love to Him…Thus, the inhabitation of the Spirit in the Christian is both the surest sign of God’s fatherly love and the proof of his adoption” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p127).

“Baptism, Church-membership, respectability, morality, outward correctness, are all excellent things. But…” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p148).

“We must be made ‘partakers of the divine nature’…(2 Pet 1:4).  The Spirit must sanctify our carnal natures, and make them love spiritual things.  The Spirit must wean our affections from things below, and teach us to set them on things above.  The Spirit must bend our stubborn wills, and teach them to be submissive to the will of God. The Spirit must write again the law of God on our inward man, and put His fear within us.  The Spirit must transform us by the daily renewing of our minds, and implant in us the image of Him whose servants we profess to be” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p135).

“Repentance toward God,—faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,—holiness of heart and life,—habits of real private prayer,—love and reverence toward God’s Word,—these are the real proofs of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in a man’s soul” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p146).

“…Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Rom 8:9 ESV).

“The love of sin must be taken from us, as well as the guilt of sin removed; the desire of pleasing God must be implanted in us, as well as the fear of God’s judgment taken away; a love to holiness must be engrafted, as well as a dread of punishment removed” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p135).