Romans 8: 32-39 - “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“‘For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In v. 33 there is the fear of accusation, of being called in question. Every man who has known conviction of sin has experienced a little of what it means to be called in question by God; to have the foundations of self-confidence shaken and shattered by the knowledge of his justice and holiness. It can be an agonizing and bitter discovery to see that one’s whole life counts for nothing. But when the believer comes to that arena where his life may be called in question, he discovers that God is his justifier! What then of the opposition mentioned in v. 32? It is possible, says Paul, but insignificant when we know that God is for us. Who can then ultimately be against us, when he works all things together for our good according to his purpose?
This leads to the ultimate question. How do we know that God is for us, that he will be our justifier, that Christ is on our side, that we are more than conquerors? The ultimate ground of our assurance, expressed in one of the most moving statements in the whole of the New Testament, is this: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him, also freely give us all things? (8:32)

How does this bring assurance? It does so objectively because it provides the answers to my deepest doubts and fears. It shows me proof of God’s grace, in that, Abraham-like, he did not spare his own Son. It indicates the certainty of pardoned guilt. Christ was ‘delivered up,’ not merely by the hands of Judas, or the chief priests and rulers, or by Pontius Pilate, all of whom, we are told ‘delivered him.’ He was delivered more profoundly and mysteriously by the hand of his own Father, and according to his determinate counsel and foreknowledge. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief !
From such a premise, only one conclusion is possible. It is the conclusion of assurance. If this be true, then how shall God not also freely give me everything else I need, in Christ, for eternal salvation? The assured faith rests on Christ, clothed in the facts of the gospel, and the apostolic interpretation of these facts which makes them a gospel (The Assurance of Salvation, Sinclair B. Ferguson).

Take time to read through this passage several times and pray, thanking the Lord for His great salvation! Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ! No more doubt, no more fears! Worship Him and praise Him for we are secure in His great love for us.

-DP

1 John 5:11-13 (NLT) - “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) - “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Pillar 4: New Life in Christ
“Fourth, assurance comes through the evidence of a changed life. Ultimately, assurance is confirmed within us as we see God conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. All who have been born again will see clear evidences of a new life in Christ. While we will never become perfect in this life, we will, nevertheless, experience a changed life. It is this inward transformation that provides strong confirmation of our salvation.
“The book of First John details what are the vital signs of our new life in Christ. The Apostle John writes, ‘We know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.’ In other words, we may be certain that we know Christ as we see within us a desired and willing obedience to God’s Word.
Likewise, John writes, other vital signs will follow: Love for other people, love for God, refusing the world, understanding biblical truth, righteous behavior, opposition from the world and answered prayer. As we see this spiritual fruit produced in our lives, we may be confident that Christ lives within us” (”How to Be Sure of Your Salvation.” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, billygraham.org/story/how-to-be-sure-of-your-salvation).

Our salvation is found in Jesus alone. We can be certain of our salvation as we repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ. In Christ, we have been given a new life and we are being transformed more and more. If you are not certain of your salvation, turn to Christ today, repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. Go over the passages that we went over this week and pray with your small group leaders. God desires that we are secure and assured in Him.

-DP

Romans 8:14-16 (NIV) - “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

Pillar 3: The Great Convincer
“Third, assurance comes through the inward witness of the Holy Spirit. A divinely produced gift, assurance is bestowed by God’s Spirit to all true believers. It is the Holy Spirit’s ministry to convince our hearts of our salvation. In actuality, no preacher, evangelist, parent or friend can give us assurance. Neither can we work it up within ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit Himself can give us the absolute certainty of our eternal salvation.
“The Bible says, ‘We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us.’ ‘By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.’ ‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.’ This means, the Holy Spirit who convicted, called and converted us also convinces us that we belong to Christ. It is the Spirit’s inward witness that persuades us of the genuineness of our salvation” (”How to Be Sure of Your Salvation.” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, billygraham.org/story/how-to-be-sure-of-your-salvation).

It’s not by our choosing we became sons and daughters of God. God chose us to adopt us into His family.
His Spirit affirms and testifies to this reality that we are God’s children! We no longer have to live in fear. We have the Spirit of God in us assuring us of our status before Him. He is our Abba Father! Don’t hesitate to call upon. Call upon Him often, crying Abba Father, especially in moments of insecurity, fear, distress, and worry. Today, draw near to God and call upon Him. Be filled once again with the assurance that our Abba Father gives to His children through His Spirit.

-DP

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) - “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Pillar 2: Jesus Paid It All
“Second, assurance rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He bore our iniquities, enduring God’s wrath, and cried out, ‘It is finished!’ By this, He meant that the full atonement for all our sins-past, present and future-has been made. His work of redemption now completed, our entire sin debt is paid in full. Just as salvation comes from believing in Christ alone, so does assurance. As we trust in Christ’s perfect sacrifice for our sins, the certainty of eternal life floods our hearts. No matter how great your sin, God’s grace is greater still. The Bible says, ‘Come now, and let us reason together…though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool’” (”How to Be Sure of Your Salvation.” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, billygraham.org/story/how-to-be-sure-of-your-salvation).

Salvation is a gift that we receive with thankful hearts. There is no room for pride. With humble hearts, let’s place all of our insecurities before the Lord and once again trust Him and trust His powerful and effective work on the cross to cleanse us.

-DP

Romans 10:12-13 (NIV) - “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

1 Peter 1:21-25 (NIV) - “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you.”

Pillar 1: God Cannot Lie!
“First, assurance is based on the absolute trustworthiness of Scripture. Throughout the New Testament, we read God’s promises to save all who will believe upon His Son. The Bible says, ‘Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.’ This is a promise! All who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ may have the firm confidence of salvation based upon the infallibility of God’s Word. Jesus said, ‘The one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.’ If you come to Jesus with genuine repentance and faith, He promises that He will save you. We can know Jesus has received us because, quite simply, He said so! When the Bible speaks, God speaks. And what God said, He will surely do. He will save all who call upon Jesus Christ. You have His word on it” (”How to Be Sure of Your Salvation.” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, billygraham.org/story/how-to-be-sure-of-your-salvation).

God’s desire is that we are secure and assured in His salvation. Our assurance does not depend on our feelings or our performance. Assurance of our salvation is based on His Word and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ! Let’s listen to God’s Word to us! We have been born again through the living and enduring word of God that endures forever. This is the word that was preached to us!

Today, read through these passages - John 10:27-29 (NIV), John 6:37 (NIV), Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
Let’s let go of our thoughts and fully trust in His promises.

-DP

1 Peter 1:22a (NLT) -“You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth…”

1 John 1:7-9 (NLT) - “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

“The blood that flowed from Jesus’ body as he hung on the cross was… the very lifeblood of God himself, poured out to deal with sins in the way that all the animal sacrifices in the world could never do.
“And that blood, that sacrificial death, that God-life given on our behalf and in our place, is available for all who ‘walk in the light.’ That doesn’t mean we have to get our act together, morally speaking, before God can do anything. What it means is that when we consciously turn to the light - when we face up to what’s gone wrong in the past and don’t try to hide it, and when we are determined to live that way from now on - two things happen. First, we find ourselves sharing that intimate God-life, not only with God himself, but with one another. Second, we find that Jesus’ blood… makes us clean, pure and fresh inside. It deals with the nasty stain, the residual dirtiness, the scratchy, ugly feeling that something went badly wrong and we can’t get rid of it. All that is gone when we turn to the light and start to walk in it. All because of Jesus” (Wright, N.T. The Early Christian Letters for Everyone - James, Peter, John, and Judah. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).

This reality of being cleansed from our sins is another important evidence of a new life in Christ. It is a reality that we, who have been cleansed when we believed, can and should experience on an ongoing basis, until we see Him.

Let’s memorize 1 John 1:9 - “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

While doing so, let’s prayerfully proclaim this truth over our lives, our relationships, our church, and our world. Let’s ask God that we will live in the light, have fellowship with one another, and experience this continued cleansing from God.

-BR

1 Peter 1:23-35 (NLT) - “For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,
‘People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever.’
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”

“Many Christians, hearing about the ‘word of God,’ assume that is simply means ‘the Bible.’ …But [Peter] seems to mean more than that. When he speaks of the ‘word that was announced to you,” he seems to mean the message about Jesus the Messiah, about God sending him so that through his sacrificial death and his outpoured Spirit people from every nation might be ransomed…from their previous life, and given a whole new life and purpose in God’s service.
“How does this work?…The followers of Jesus seem to have discovered, as early as the day of Pentecost, that when they spoke to people about Jesus something happened. It wasn’t just that people were interested, or that they decided either to go along with the message or to reject it. It was as though, when the ‘word’ was spoken, something like a blood transfusion was taking place in some at least of the hearers. They found themselves gripped by it, transformed by it, rinsed out by it, given a new sense of the presence of God. Yes: hearing ‘the word,” they ‘tasted that the Lord is gracious.” They had been born again” (Wright, N.T. The Early Christian Letters for Everyone - James, Peter, John, and Judah. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).

I love this description from N.T. Wright because it reminds me that this message of the gospel is life-giving. By this word, God gave me life and He gives life to hearers even today. We can now live in assurance; our new life will last forever because it comes from this eternal, living word of God.

In prayer and with this song, let’s thank God for this life-giving word of salvation, and respond by saying, yes, Lord, build my life upon this truth daily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYMjO9mL0Tw&index=10&list=PL3rQovoAIut1_QfaPm-HxzgysPL5ipzGi

-BR

1 Peter 1:21-22 - “Through [Christ] you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”

These two verses speak of three outcomes of new life in believers:

1 - Faith. We now believe in God, when we could not, did not, before. We trust in Him; our confidence is in Him. We now turn to God in our times of trouble and joy, because we believe that He exists and will reward us when we seek Him.
2 - Hope. We have a living, breathing expectation that God has promised to come for all who trust in Him. And with this hope comes the cry, “Come, Lord Jesus. We want to see You, to be with You in full.”
3 - Love. Love for God’s people cannot be separated from love for God. Where we were once cold, indifferent, even hating, we find that we now actually care about and want to be with God and His people.

If while reading these verses and/or these descriptions, your heart says, “Yes, that has been given to me with this new life,” I encourage you to respond with thanksgiving to God. Ask Him to cause this faith, hope, and love to increase and bear even more fruit in your life.

If while reading, you are not sure, or faith, hope, and love seem like muted memories, I encourage you to recall the message of “This Love.” Proclaim and pray the truth of John 3:16-17. New life comes from God, who so loved the world. Ask Him for this new life to be made real and evident in you.

-BR

2 Corinthians 5:15, 17 (NLT) - “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them…This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

The new life that we have received from God is not just a future/eternal reality. It begins in the here and now - a new life has begun!

Spend a moment remembering when you first received or first became aware that you had received a new life. Do you remember your thanksgiving, prayers and responses to God at that time? Present yourself to Him in those ways, and in the new ways that He puts on your heart today.

2 Corinthians 5:18 - “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”

Together with this new life comes this awesome task of reconciling people to Him. Let’s pray, asking God to equip and use us in this way. Let’s also pray for each of our churches, asking God for more new lives to come in each church.

When you have a little time (about 8 minutes) today, watch this video testimony of a life made new in Christ, and be refreshed and renewed in God’s heart to reconcile people to Himself.
http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/lee-yih/

-BR

1 Peter 1:3-5 - “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

What is this inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for us? The book of Revelation gives us a view:

Revelation 21:1-5 - ” … a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea…And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”

These trustworthy and true words were written for us, to teach and remind us of the eternity that God has prepared for His people. And what is our response to be? As 1 Peter 1:3 says: Praise be to God!

Let’s worship God, who has loved us and given us new birth into something that will last forever and into a living, breathing hope for today. Give Him thanks for this new life. Pray through the day ahead of or behind you, asking God to help you live in praise of Him and in light of all this newness.

Let’s worship Him in song -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqnRj1N4blA&list=PL3rQovoAIut1_QfaPm-HxzgysPL5ipzGi&index=1

-BR