Assurance of salvation

ASSURANCES

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EVIDENCES OF GODLINESS – PART TWO

“…His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness…” (2 Pet 1:3 NASB).

FATHER, this power of Yours becomes experiential in me the moment You change my stony heart (Ezek 36:26). Below are thoughts that come to me with a new heart. I desire to check myself to see if I have experienced these thoughts.

“…a conscious regret that our love to Him is so poor, along with a desire to love Him more…” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Nov 30th).

“There is in this spiritual and divine light a true sense of the divine and superlative excellency of the things of God and of Jesus Christ, of the work of redemption, and of the ways and works of God revealed in the Gospel. He who is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart” Jonathan Edwards (ref#229, p57).

“There is not, there cannot be, a clearer evidence that a man is under the teaching that is from above than this, that he is led to Christ, and that he seeks to put the crown of his salvation on his blessed head” Charles Ross (ref#241, p175).

ASSURANCES

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EVIDENCES OF GODLINESS – PART ONE

“…His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness…” (2 Pet 1:3 NASB).

FATHER, this power of Yours becomes experiential in me the moment You change my stony heart (Ezek 36:26). Below are thoughts that come to me with a new heart. I desire to check myself to see if I have experienced these thoughts.

“…a feeling and a sense that God is for us and that God loves us….I have lost the sense that God is against me, and I begin to have a feeling and sense that God is for me, that God is kind to me, that He is concerned about me, and that He truly loves me” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Nov 28th).

“When the spiritual life is in ascendancy the believer is most glad; when the flesh gains the upper hand he cannot but grieve. Experience of this kind confirms that such ones have been regenerated” Watchman Nee (ref#33, p81)

“Are you aware of a ferment in your own nature, something pushing you on, urging you forward, making you desire holiness, making you desire to be able to pray in a more worthy manner, longing to know Christ better? Are you aware of something disturbing you; has something been put into you that will not let you remain in that existence of death? We are not Christians unless we know something of that disturbance and turmoil and working within—eternal life abiding in us, going on, moving us and leading us on to other and greater things” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#211, p94).

ASSURANCES

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THE SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS WITH OUR SPIRIT

…FATHER, if I grieve the HOLY SPIRIT, I loose the sense of Him. Without sensing Him I loose my assurance of salvation.

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Rom 8:16…Your minister, your friend, schooled as they may be in the evidences of godliness, cannot assure your spirit that you are born of God. Only God the Eternal Spirit can do this….His first step is to work repentance and faith in the heart; then follows the sealing and witnessing operation” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, May 9th).

“How do we have knowledge about God?…The answer is, ‘because he hath given us of his Spirit,’…How do I know I have received God’s Spirit?…Are you concerned about these things…I assure you that if you are, the Holy Spirit is in you, for people apart from God ‘mind earthly things’ (Philippians 3:19)—carnal, fleshly things. Are you concerned about immortality and the things invisible and eternal?…that is proof that the Holy Spirit is in you” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Nov 18th).

“My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves” (1 John 3:18-20 MSG).

 

 

 

ASSURANCES

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THE SPIRIT HELPING ME LIVE RIGHT

“If there were more diligent and prayerful study of God’s Word,…frequent seasons of retirement, consecrated to meditation, self-examination, and secret prayer, there would be less superficial Christianity…We need more depth of knowledge, more spiritually, more experience, more of the life and power of true godliness; in a word, we need more of the anointing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit…” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, June 9th).

“… the sealing of the Spirit? It is the act of the Holy Spirit, by which the work of grace is deepened in the heart of the believer so that he has an increasing and abiding conviction of his acceptance in Jesus and his adoption into the family of God. It is a clearer and more undoubted manifestation of Christ to the soul…evidencing itself in a growing holiness of character….a growth in the knowledge of Christ, in sanctification of heart, in holiness of life…” Octavius Winslow  (ref#135, Apr 13th).

“…I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands…” (Ezek 36:27 MSG)

“…in most cases, the sealing of the Spirit is a …gradual work. It is a work of time. The soul is placed in the school of deep experience and is led step by step, stage by stage. The knowledge of self and of Christ increases, deeper views of indwelling sin are discovered, the heart’s treachery is more acutely felt, the devices of Satan are better known, the mystery of God’s gracious and providential dealings with His children are more clearly unfolded and better understood—and all this may be arrived at through a process of deep and painful, yet sanctified, discipline” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Apr 14th).

“By…begetting in us the divine nature, by producing in us spiritual fruits, and by breathing in our souls a desire for holiness, the Spirit conducts us to the rational conclusion that we are born of God” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Sept 14th).

“His promise stands for ever firm;

His grace shall ne’er depart;

He binds my name upon his arm,

And seals it on his heart” Issac Watts (ref#224, song 479, verse 3).