By Justin Edwards
Last week I posted the first part of this series Biblical Assurance of Salvation - Part 1 where Paul Washer made the call to examine oneself as the Apostle Paul exhorted the church in 2 Corinthians 13:5:
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
Washer continues in the series with a focus on 1 John 1:8-10:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
If we do not acknowledge our sin, if we say we do not sin, we greatly deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. More than that, we call the Lord over all creation a liar! Let it be known that a new relationship with God means a new relationship with sin. If you are not sensitive to the sin in your life, if you claim to not be sinning when you are living in it, then your very soul may be hanging in the balance.
Please watch this 30 minute message and use it as a tool to examine yourself. Please pray for the Lord to soften your heart and gives you ears to hear. Throw away your pride and take a few moments to examine your heart. If you have not watched the first message, please do so. If it sounds like I am begging - I am.
Biblical Assurance of Salvation - Part 2 mp3
I thank God for this blog! It so amazing that this past week this is the very issue I have been attacked on. After listening to "Examine Yourself", I realize that it is more common than we think for one to doubt sometimes because we are more aware of the sin in our lives. The relationship with sin is just not the same as it was before being saved because we were in darkness.
ReplyDeleteGod's goodness and mercy washed us clean through Jesus Christ, so when we get dirty, we know it.
Thank you, God, for saving a wretched soul like me! Bless Justin for his blogs and boldly sharing the Gospel! May we humbly pray for those who are lost and who are searching for truth found only in Jesus Christ. Amen!
Will listen to this series, thanks again, Justin! :)
God bless you, dear sister. When we allow sin to enter our lives, our assurance of salvation is challenged. The Holy Spirit will draw the children of God to repentance. If one never faces discipline for the sin in their lives, they are not His child. Thank you for the encouragement, and I stand with you in prayer that many will be drawn to the cross of Jesus Christ in these last days!
ReplyDeleteHebrews 12:5-11,
"And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”[a]
7 If[b] you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."