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19 results for “Assurance”
Clear searchJohn Bunyan · Spiritual autobiography · 1666
Grace Abounding is valuable because Bunyan does not make the path to assurance look neat or effortless. He records the biblical words that awakened, wounded, corrected, and eventually comforted him, together with the fierce inward battles through which he lea…
View recommendation →Two accounts of judgement, mercy, and the sinner's hope before God
…can boast in a moral balance, and nobody can use grace as permission to cherish sin. Why assurance is possible If my final hope rests upon the quality of my record, I must continually ask whether it is enough. If it rests upon God's unexplained decision to overlook guilt, I may…
Read article →Faith, assurance, and the unseen reality of God
I Know Whom I Have Believed Faith, assurance, and the unseen reality of God When you have been touched by God, it is different. What you believe has become personal. You may struggle to explain the certainty you have, but the…
Read article →What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises
…scattering, repentance, regathering, and restored blessing. David did not receive a vague assurance that godly government would exist somewhere. God promised him a house, kingdom, throne, and Son. David's descendants could be chastened, but the covenant itself would not be broken…
Read article →Jesus and the fountain of living water
…o wise cast out." —John 6:37 The one who comes aright comes empty-handed, but not without assurance. Christ has pledged His welcome. The gift is the Holy Spirit John does not leave "living water" open to whatever meaning appeals to us. Jesus was speaking of the Spirit, whom belie…
Read article →How the Lord knows His own—and how their lives bear His name
…nowledge that “the Lord knoweth them that are his” therefore produces humility as well as assurance. It forbids both panic and presumption. We do not need to pretend that all is well, and we do not need to act as though God's purpose depends upon our ability to identify every hid…
Read article →A quiet invitation to draw near to Christ
A pastoral reflection on shame, our acceptance in Christ, and the gentle invitation to make room for fellowship with Him.
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
…ly permits God to cancel every gracious undertaking and redefine its recipient, Christian assurance would rest upon the very perfection we confess we cannot supply. This does not erase responsibility. Scripture holds together real conditions, real discipline, and God's preserving…
Read article →What Christ’s promise establishes—and what claims about infallible teaching still need to prove
Does Matthew 16:18 Establish Church Infallibility? Few promises offer Christians greater assurance than these words of Jesus: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” — Matthew 16:18 The Church belongs to Christ. He builds it, and the powers…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…al covenants are therefore not identical agreements with interchangeable terms. Christian assurance rests directly upon Christ's completed work, His resurrection, His intercession, and the promises of the gospel. We should not pretend that every covenant operates in precisely the…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
…istorical meaning. Christians have been called Gnostic for stressing personal conversion, assurance of salvation, the authority of Scripture, heavenly hope, doctrinal precision, non-sacramental worship, premillennialism, or distrust of corrupt institutions. If all these things ar…
Read article →Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God
…hat surpasses understanding. We need not be suspicious of every powerful emotion. But our assurance rests in Christ and His promises, not in the intensity of our sensations. The safest spiritual life is not the one containing the greatest number of extraordinary experiences. It i…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…read the Scripture" before him. Muslims commonly and reasonably take this as rhetorical reassurance rather than an admission that Muhammad doubted his revelation. Even so, reassurance works only if the earlier readers are competent witnesses to something relevant. The cumulative…
Read article →The near was real. The far is still coming.
…d the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” — Isaiah 32:17 Peace grows out of righteousness. It is the settled condition produced when life is ordered according to God’s justice. Verse 18 completes the picture wit…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…rophet. We have considered eternal love, the crucifixion, divine justice, forgiveness and assurance. We have tested the transmission of the Bible, the missing Islamic Injeel, the Qur’an’s miracle claim, alleged prophecies of Muhammad, the covenant line through Isaac, Daniel’s cut…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
…d to hear the gospel of their own Messiah. Why Israel's restoration strengthens Christian assurance God's faithfulness is indivisible. The Church cannot build confidence upon the claim that God permanently reassigned another people's promises when they failed. We also are weak, i…
Read article →What mercy, holiness and the cross reveal about God
…ve accomplishes what His people could not accomplish for themselves. This gives Christian assurance its personal character. The believer does not rest upon the strength of his own love for God, but upon the demonstrated love of God in Christ. Paul asks: "He that spared not his ow…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
…position but not incidental in purpose. It answers the largest possible objection to the assurance he has just given: whether human unbelief can cause God's pledged word to fail. There is a smaller parenthetical movement inside the final chapter. Romans 11:11-12 begins to antici…
Read article →How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal
…ed the distinction between holy and profane. Prophets covered wrongdoing with religious reassurance. The people practised extortion and oppressed the poor and the stranger (Ezekiel 22:6–29). Micah accused rulers of hating good, loving evil and judging for reward while still askin…
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