The Holiness of God

Hab 1:13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:

 

Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 

 

The Justice of God

Psa 11:7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

 

Isa 5:16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

 

Psa 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

 

Psa 7:12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 

 

The Depravity and Condemnation of Man

 

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

 

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 

 

The Great Dilemma

 

Prov 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

 

Gen 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 

 

God's Action

 

While maintaining His holiness and justice, the Bible also affirms that God is love and that in love He has responded to the plight of man.

 

Motivated By Love

 

1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

 

1Jn 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

 

1Jn 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

 

The Cross of Christ

 

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 

Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

 

Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

 

Rom 3:26 To declare, I say,at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 

 

The Resurrection of Christ

 

 

Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. 

 

Man's Response

 

Repentance begins with a recognition and confession that what God says about us is true-we have sinned.

 

Psa 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

 

Psa 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

 

A genuine recognition of our sinfulness and guilt will also lead to genuine repentance, sorrow, shame, and even hatred for what we have done.

 

Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

 

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

 

Apparent sincerity of confession alone is never definite evidence of genuine repentance. It must be accompanied by a turning away from sin.

 

Isa 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

 

Mat 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

 

Faith Defined

 

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

 

Rom 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 

 

Faith Based upon the Promises of God

 

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 

 

Example of a Believer

 

Phil 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 

 

The Basis of Genuine Assurance

 

True conversion: A true christian is a new creation and will live a life that reflects God's radical work of re-creation in his or her life.

 

2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

 

Assurance is based upon self-examination in the light of Scripture.

 

2Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

 

1Jn 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

 

 

Test Of Biblical Assurance

1. 1 John 1:5-7  (Walking in the Light)

2. 1 John 1:8-10  (Confession of Sin)

3. 1 John 2:3-4  (Obedience)

4. 1 john 2:9-11  (Love for other Christians)

5. 1 John 2:15-17  (Hatred for the things of the World)

6. 1 John 2:24-25  (Perseverance in Doctrine)

7. 1 John 3:10  (Righteousness)

8. 1 John 4:13  (Spirit's Testimony)

9. Hebrews 12:5-8  (Disciplined by God)