Great Doctrines of Salvation, Assurance

All right, we'll get started. This week's lesson, and we're going over the doctrines of salvation that Marchbank has put out. If you need a book, hopefully most of you have the notebooks. This week is chapter 7, which is on assurance. And the first question is, what is assurance?

What does it mean? Oh, no, that's a cheap answer. Confidence. What else? Any other thoughts? Assurance. Boy, it's going to be a win. Well, it could be that, yeah. I guess, yeah, that you know that things will work out in the end. I don't know about the one way or the other. That's the one I'm kind of struggling with. I guess we know we're going to be with the Lord. If you know the Lord, there's no question. The assurance is the confidence.

I looked at Webster. I always look at the definition of what's in the dictionary just to compare to what we define assurance is. Webster had it as pledge, insurance, security, self-confidence. My question is, which of these are good definitions of assurance and which is not? Thank you. That was the one, as I was looking at this, I thought, man, have they got it wrong with what we see as assurance. It is not self-confidence. It is what? Confidence in Christ. So, you know, when I looked at it, it was kind of funny. It jumped out at me right away.

It's like, wow, you know, the way the world looks at assurance is self-confidence. No, that is not. We have confidence in the Lord. Marchbanks defines it as to know that we are saved and saved eternally. That's the assurance. I thought that was a good one. For the Christian assurance is to know that we're saved and saved eternally.

Others have defined it as confidence in what we know based on the scriptures. So again, it's the confidence in knowing that what the Lord said is true. Confidence in the Lord. Confidence in His Word. Knowing, and what Michael always says, what Miles used to say, it's come to this, we need to believe. If we believe what God says, we have assurance.

There's no question about it. If you believe what's in God's word, we'll go through lots of these. There's no question. If you know the Lord, there is no question about what's going to happen in the end. Is it one way or the other? Well, we know the one way. We will be with the Lord.

And that's not to say that we're not going to have trials. In fact, we're almost guaranteed to have trials. And the trials are meant for our development. If you look in, mine that I've always committed to memory is James 1. Consider it all joy, my brethren. We were doing this on Tuesday. This was on our Tuesday study too. Now how strange is this? This is God's word. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when what? You encounter various trials. Whoa! Joy? What's that? Joy in trials? Joy in trials?

Is there a disconnect here? No. Consider all, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that testing your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So again, the trials are met, and there are other scriptures that are very similar to that.

So, it's not to say that our assurance is that we are on the smooth lake just floating, that no trials will come in our path. It's not to say that. Our assurance is knowing that what the Lord said is true and that we are in His hands, in His sovereign hand, and we will be with Him eternally. We are eternally with Him. That's the assurance. That's the peace that we have.

And you know, for mine, whenever the trials come, It doesn't matter when the trials come. It doesn't say it doesn't hurt. I mean, it still hurts. But there's a peace that passes all understanding going through those trials because I have that assurance that He's in control and that whatever happens, I'm going to be with Him eternally.

So assurance is a big thing. This is one of my favorite things because I think a lot of Christians today suffer lack of assurance. And we'll get to some of why that is as we get down here. When I was saved at the age of 12, I'm not sure at what point I really was assured that I was saved. Somewhere in the teen years that I really knew for certain.

And quit worrying about that. But I used to dream, I had terrible nightmares that I was going to miss the rapture. And it was where I was going to church, there wasn't clear dispensational teaching So I was mixing up Endura until the end with, you know, and all this, and I knew that I wasn't good enough, so I'd certainly get left. And then, about 20 years later, I forget to say, 20 years later, I was in a study where they were teaching the character's guide. And it was the study of the character's guide that gave me assurance that I would not miss the Rapture.

So assurance can be had in several areas. Yeah, just out of curiosity. I haven't thought about it. Who has ever had that sort of doubt? You know, I'm going to be left behind. Just raise your hand. I'm just curious. I mean, I think it's pretty much almost ubiquitous. Everybody goes through that. I had to cave in to it at that point. When I was in junior high, I was watching some guy It was the Cuban Missile Crisis.

That night that came on. You've now dated yourself. I was home by myself. Folks and my sister were gone somewhere and it was coming across as a very important and dangerous situation that could just blow up right there where nobody was coming home. And I just thought, man, I've missed it. I think everybody's gone through that. I think Ingrid said that one time. She woke up and nobody was at the house or something. You know, they'd all taken off or something. And, you know, her family's all know the Lord and they were all gone. And she woke up and nobody was there. You know, did I get left behind?

You know, and I think there are those doubts. But, you know, the assurance, and it may come as you grow, you know, as you grow and we'll find out, I think, as you come to know the Word of God and trust in the Word of God, that assurance, you know, climbs and climbs and climbs. We'll get to one of my favorite verses that I, you know, I went through that same thing and the same reasons as I went through this. I've experienced a lot of these same thoughts, you know. I'm not worthy enough. I didn't do enough. All these things that we think of, that I wasn't good enough and He left me behind. And I went through a lot of those things.

And finally, the Lord basically brought one verse, and that really changed my thought of it. And we'll get to that. It was one of the verses we'll look at a little later. And that really helped me as far as just a thing to hold on to and say, whenever those doubts crept in, I said, no. go back to that verse and I just say, no, it's not there. Now as I have much more knowledge of the scriptures, it's past that one verse. But when I was younger in my Christian life, that one verse really, I called it my anchor verse.

That was the one that alleviated the doubt. So it is interesting. So assurance is a good topic to go over because everybody has been in this boat where we lack that assurance. And so I think it's a good topic and it's one that I like because once you have that assurance, the things that he's promised just give you that peace and rest. that only the Lord can give you. Once you have that assurance, man, that peace just floods over you. You don't worry about things as much. You just know that no matter whatever happens, God's in control and that you're with Him eternally. Whatever happens in this world, you can overcome quite easily because you have that assurance. You don't have to worry.

Because it's the customary thing to say. We went through this one time. Could you repeat the question? He was actually poking fun at me. He was asking why I said Gesundheit. It's a custom. It's a custom. We went through this one time. Why do you say God bless you when you say that or Gesundheit? Alright, moving on, moving on.

Number two, what proof do we have that our justification is perfect and complete? What is the proof of that, that our justification is perfect and complete? Again, justification being that you don't have to worry. If you're justified, and what does justification mean? Oh, we're going to have to go through these so many times. Justification means?

Right standing before the Lord. Yes, declared righteous before the Lord. And who does that? God does. Nothing we do. He declares us. So, we're declared perfect and complete before Him. And how do we know that is true? Two things. No. Two things. Bingo. That's one. The Word of God.

And who implements that in our life? Holy Spirit, right. The Word and the Holy Spirit are the ones who make that proof in our hearts that our justification is complete or that God has justified us. Because the Word of God and the witness of the Holy Spirit, it is God's work to take away the sins of the world and declare us righteous based upon His work. Let's look at a couple of scriptures.

You want to look up John 1.29?

And Peggy, you want to do Ephesians 1.7? Or do you have a Bible? Yeah.

Ephesians 1.7.

John 1.29? The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Okay.

Did he take away only a few? A little? Who took it away? The whole world. He's taken away the sins of the whole world. No question. And it was Christ who did that. In Ephesians? In Him we have redemption through His blood, forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His graces.

Remember, this is one of the things I go through quite a bit. The in Hims or in Christ. Really when you start looking through, remember also too, really helps. When you look through the scripture, look to it for a relationship. Look to it to get to know the Lord. And when you see that, you'll see in, it's been popping out left and right to me, you'll see in Him, in Christ, all those things, all the blessings, all these things are always tacked on with in Him or in Christ. And so, it's all related to us being in Him. And so, in Him we have what? Redemption. We have been redeemed, bought back. So, the sins have been taken away and we've been redeemed. There are a ton of verses about our justification.

There's Romans 8.30, Romans 4.25, 5.1, Titus, one of the ones, Titus, I have it up here, Titus 3.7, I'll start in 3.4.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Again, all those things, it's in Him, He's doing it by His grace, we're made heirs, eternal life, all those things. Again, it comes down to us trusting, believing in God's Word. And again, the Holy Spirit is the one who implements that in us and makes it shoe leather in our lives. So, those two things make the proof that we have justification. Going on, number three.

What is the assurance of salvation not based on? What is assurance not based on? Deeds? Ourselves? Good. Experience, that's one of the ones. That's one of the ones that a lot of people rely on. Any others? What is it not based on? Thoughts? Self-confidence. Exactly. There are a lot of different ones. Emotions. Is it based on our emotions or how we feel? Is it on visions? Is it on experience? Is it any of those things that our assurance is based on?

No, it shouldn't be. I mean, if you base it on that, what is your emotion today? What is your feeling today? It's a great day. Being blessed. I'm assured. Tomorrow. It rains. The car won't start. The dog bites you. Everything else goes wrong. Your kids scream at you. You don't have a newspaper. Everything's wrong. People disappear. They aren't in your house when you thought they would be. You're nervous.

I have this emotion that I'm alone. Don't base it on emotion, because that's like the wind, back and forth, whichever is blowing today, tomorrow. It's not based on emotions, feelings, experiences, anything like that, or anything of self. March Banks puts it this way, and I like this, it is not to hope that we're saved, it's not to pray that we shall at last be saved, It is to know that we are here and now saved by God's grace, apart from any supposed merit on our side, self, or any present or future faithfulness on our part. I thought that was a key part, the faithfulness.

You know, am I good enough today? Yeah. Tomorrow, am I good enough? No. Good enough today? No. It's not based on what we do. The assurance is not on what we do. It's not on self. It's not on anything we do. As Mike says, spiritual push-ups. It's not that we memorized 50 verses today. And the Lord loves me a little bit better and I feel more assured today. It's not that I helped a little old lady across the street today. It's not because I went and served at the Salvation Food Kitchen this morning.

It's not anything based on us. It's based on what He has done. It's completed. It's the knowledge of His Word that we are eternally saved. Nothing we do is going to change that. Nothing, no, you know, anything that we do. Not that we come and we do the work fellowship day here. It's nothing. It's based on him and what he has done. So, yeah. It's somewhere in here. I can probably... Yeah, probably 28th.

Yeah. bottom of 28 page 28 he also goes on to say many for example believe that the Lord's keeping keeping power depends upon their own faithfulness to the Lord. Such of you make salvation to be a result of human merit rather than God's grace, and plainly contradicts such statements of Scripture, such as Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast." Okay, again, What is our part in this thing?

Just believe. Believe. No works. You can get into the James. There's the argument of what goes into James. Faith without works is dead. And you can get into that and what that means. But it comes down to believe. Believe God's Word. And the Holy Spirit will make that real in our lives. Shoe leather.

And I think there is some, you know, maturation of that, you know, as you go on, as you know the scriptures more and more, the assurance becomes just rock solid. It's when you have those doubts, because you don't know God's Word, you don't know what He says, you don't believe in what He says, that that assurance slips. So, I think the full assurance comes as you know the Word more and more.

Somebody also, if you can look up, Steve, you want to look up 2 Timothy 1.12 and who else back there? Oh, I should get her.

Brad, do you want to get Philippians 1.6?

So you've got 2 Timothy 1.12 and part of 13, I guess.

For this reason I also suffer these things, for I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have helped lead, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him, and so that he will retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, and a faithful love which I have entrusted to him." Yeah, so what did he say in there?

I am convinced I am assured. I am assured in what He said, for whom I have what? Believed. Therefore, I am convinced. So, again, that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Again, showing again, until that day. What is that day? Huh? Yeah, when we're standing before Him. Okay? He's able to guard it until that day. And then at that point, we're with Him eternally. And enough said at that point. We're with him throughout all eternity.

Philippians 1.6 and I think it's part of 7. I kind of have both. I'm confident of this very thing.

If you begin a good working you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. So again, what did Paul say? What was the first thing he said? For I am what? Confident. Confident of this very thing. that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Again, I'm confident, I'm assured that he's able to do what he said until the day of judgment or until the day of Christ. I'm confident. This is Paul talking. I'm confident. I'm assured.

Why? Because he knew the Lord. He knew the Lord. Back to the second Timothy. I think it's. It's really cool that he says, for I know whom I have believed, not I know what I have believed. The assurance doesn't come from knowledge of the facts, but from a relationship with the person of Christ. Absolutely, great point. It's not, did you hear me? Basically, it's not saying what I know, it's whom I know.

Again, in Him, in Christ, whom. Go to the scriptures, not to know facts, but read it for a relationship. Read it to get to know Christ, because we're to be conformed to His image. How do we know how to be conformed to His image? What if you don't know Him? How are you to be conformed to Him? How do you get to know Him? Through the Word. And again, I think I've told the class this before, I have so much more peace now knowing... Erlene has memorized tons of scriptures, knows it.

I struggle with memorizing scripture, and that used to just bother me no end. I just am not a good memorizer. I'm just not good, and it used to just frustrate me. A lot of things because I felt the Lord just is going to look at me because that young whippersnapper can't memorize stuff. Smack him. I just felt that way, which was incredibly stupid.

So as I've gotten over this, it's like I go now to read the scriptures to know Him. It's kind of funny, I know more scriptures now, not trying to know the scriptures, than when I was trying to memorize scriptures. Go figure that one out. But it is, it's knowing Him. I read the scriptures to know Him, to get to know a picture of Christ. That's the one who I'm to conform to. So, I implore you that when you read scripture, read it to know Him. See who Christ is. And that's where you'll get this concept of whom I have believed. Not what I believe, but whom I believe. Great point. If we know what assurance is not based on, how may we know that we have eternal life, and what is such assurance based on? We were just going about how it's not, but what is it?

And I already said it right at the beginning, it's what? the Word and the Holy Spirit. It is simply by believing God's Word. It's to believe the record that God gave of His Son. That record is given in a couple of scriptures, I think. Somebody want to... Norm, you got one?

1 Corinthians 15.3? Oh, yeah, you can. I'm sorry. Who else? Brian, you want to do one? Who else here? April can do it. She wasn't looking up, but I didn't want to get her.

Ben, do you want to get 1 Thessalonians 1.5?

And April, if you can get 1 Corinthians 15.3 and 4.

This is basically the Gospel message in a nutshell. Go ahead. Pretty simple. That's what you believe. That's the gospel message in a nutshell. A lot of times we try and complicate things and make it difficult. To me, that's kind of The gospel in one verse, two verses. Very simple, very straightforward, okay? 1 Thessalonians 1 5. For our gospel did not come to you in words only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

Okay. So, how did it come to you? The Word? and the power of the Holy Spirit. And what does that give you? With what? Full, some of them say conviction or assurance. Just what we're talking about. It's knowing God through His Word and the Holy Spirit implementing that in your life. You have what? Full conviction or assurance. That's how we get the assurance. It's not by how I feel today. It's not by what I did today. It's not anything of myself. It is through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

Yes. Well, yeah. Yeah, the this one is actually the one who actually. brings it about. The one who does it is, you know, I guess, being Christ. Christ, number one, if knowing Him and His Word. But who implements that in our life? I've given away a hundred times now. Holy Spirit, I see, I mean, Christ is Word, Word is Christ. I guess you can make two people then. Christ is Word, as His Word, Living Word. Right. Well, yeah, it's Christ. So, really, the one that implements us, though, is who brings it about. It's the Holy Spirit implementing in our lives. He's the one who convicts us. He's the one who makes it real. He's the one who does it in our life. Do you have a Bible, Erica? You don't? Oh, I can't call him. Laura, do you have one? How about Romans 8, 16? And 17, actually. Okay, what did it say in the first part of that?

Who did it? Who bears witness? The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that what? We are children of God. Okay? Again, the eternal nature of us, children of God, It goes on, you know, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him, again, we're heirs. This is eternal. So it's the Spirit Himself who bears witness and then, and He bears witness that we are eternally children of God. Again, the confidence.

When you wake up and the household's empty, Don't worry. Everybody just went out for coffee. They didn't wake you up. You can be mad that they didn't take you along. But don't worry. When you're thinking, you're just not worthy enough. The Lord is just looking a little cockeyed at you today because you just weren't acting too well today. It doesn't matter.

He may child train you and bring some trials to help, but the assurance that you're his and his alone forever. Never in question. I was a believer for many years before I understood eternal security. The Holy Spirit was in me, but there was still no assurance.

Assurance is on the large side. Well, he works in India. I mean, he's brought you to this place. He's revealed things to you that now you have that assurance. There are lots of them, and we'll kind of touch on that, in that there are a lot of believers who don't have that assurance. And I think the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, works that into people. And it may take years.

It's like spiritual maturity. Babes in Christ with the milk. As you grow, you get the meat. And I think that assurance comes as you grow. We're kind of in stages. As you know more of the Lord, that assurance comes with it. The Spirit works that into you, where you get to know Him, you see Him, or you believe His Word. And that, I think, as you come. Because you have a belief. There's a lot of times a belief in salvation. A lot of Christians go into that, have the faith to believe in salvation.

But then it's, I'm on my own from then on. Where does that come in? The Lord had enough power to save me, but once I'm saved, He sets me outside and lets me go by myself. I'm on my own. I've got to do, I've got to do, I've got to do. Where did that come from? But that's the typical response by a lot of Christians, and a lot of young Christians too. I'm saved, now I'm going to go slay the world. I'm going to go after everybody I know and slay the world.

Well, a lot of times the Lord slowly works it into you that it's not you, it's Him. Again, I think it's a process to get that assurance. It's really just once you know the Lord, know the Scriptures, the Spirit will work that into you. I tie the assurance into the peace that passes all understanding. I have peace. We talked about this on Tuesdays a long time ago. You look at Job and what he did to Job and all that. The Lord could do that to any one of us.

I look at Hal. Hal's going through amazing stuff. He's not worried. You want to see a picture of assurance. The first email we got back from Hal was, you know, one month to live without treatment. That was the first email we got. And his is, who can I witness to in this next month? Who's the Lord going to bring before me? It wasn't like, I've got one month. That, to me, is the picture of assurance.

It doesn't matter. The Lord takes your house away. The Lord takes your car away. The Lord takes your job away. The Lord does anything. I still have that peace that passes all understanding. That's that assurance of knowing that He's in control of all things.

I mean, it may hurt. I'm not kidding. It may hurt. I think about the Lord. He sweats drops of blood. You know, Lord, if it's your will, take this cup from me. But you see in the other, the joy set before me. You know, it hurt. I mean, I don't think he was looking forward to the pain, I don't think, but the joy was before him. It's the same in ours. It can hurt, but you have that peace, that assurance that it's okay. It's okay, the Lord is there. That's where I said I equate a lot of the assurance to the peace and the rest that we have. Alright, we've got a zip on here.

Look up Hebrews 12, 2 and Proverbs 4, 18. How do these verses help us understand God's method of assuring us of our position? Actually, I messed it up. It was supposed to be Hebrews 2, 11 and 12, not 12, 2. So I'll go ahead and read these real quick, because we're running out of time, and I want to get to my favorite verse.

But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it is fitting for Him for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren."

Again, our position, we are sanctified, we are all from one Father, and he is not ashamed to call us brethren. Not a bad position to be in. God of the universe. Christ. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. And then, I will proclaim thy name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will sing thy praise. Again, my brethren. My brethren. I mean, what a position we have. Oh, that was actually the end of N12. I didn't cut it off before.

And then Proverbs 4.18.

But the path of righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. This is also translated perfect day, when we step into eternity. So again, the shines brighter and brighter until that full day. Again, that's the path of the righteous goes until that full day or the perfect day. Let's look, if you have, since we're running out of time, I'll read it. Another one was John 1. 12 and 13.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, and who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Again, children of God. Think of the position we're in. You think God's going to... I mean, children of God. eternally.

He's not going to throw us on the curb and leave us alone. It's not a position that we can leave. The one that I've always had, which I always like, is John 10, 28 and 29. This is one that I've always, you know, when I was a young Christian, and I was doubting, and I had that lack of assurance, this verse always gave me great peace and assurance. John 10, 28. And I give eternal life to them, and this is Christ talking, and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

You know, once you're in Christ, in God's hand, how do you get out of there? How can you get out? Can I climb out? Can anybody pull me out of there? Does my self-doubt get me out of that hand? Does my bad actions get me out of there? If I sin, do I get out of there? Is there any way out of his hand? No. There is no way out of his hand. And that just gave me the... I thought... That ended all these doubts that... Whatever I... Because it says whoever. And no one is able to. I wasn't worried about all those other people out there. I was worried about myself. And it says no one.

That includes me. And I can't get out of his hand. Once you're in his hand, you're there. He's not going to let you out. Oops. That was one of the things I always say. The one word in God's vocabulary that's not there is oops. It's not there. There's never a time where God goes, oops. Can you think of any instance where he goes, oops, one climbed out, sorry, oops, I didn't know what was going on over here. Something happened behind me? Oops. Does God ever say oops? Never. Never.

So I can't just sneak out and get out. I can't do something without him knowing about it. And he knows everything. I'm in his hand. Go ahead. You want to say something? Yeah, just the idea of even you or me trying to get out of God's hand. I don't know how many people have ever wished that they could get out of God's hand, but I did once. Oh, yeah.

And it was after our first son, Stephen, died. And I became, and I'm sure it was a lot of my old man, but maybe also Satan attacking me at a point where I was weak because I wasn't certain totally that Stephen was saved. And so I was like, what if, what if he wasn't? What if I'm wrong in feeling like he was? What if, what if? And I got to the point where I felt like if I was not a Christian, if I could get out of this, I wouldn't have to believe in hell. And I wouldn't be afraid anymore. And I've known other people who've lost kids, gone through some horrible things, lost spouses, and a lot of times that's what goes through, those same thoughts. But you can't. You can't get out. It doesn't, you know, and you'll go, and you can't.

I mean, even if you say you're not, you know, if you believe, and are in his hand. Doesn't matter what you do. There is one that he was, he had, can't say the name, but he was writing, he was navigators, he was writing tracks, he was in tracks, he was doing all this stuff, and then just went off the deep end. and got into trouble, renounced the Lord for 30 years, 30 plus years. He was still in His hand, and God worked on him for 30 years, and finally came back, and now he's serving, and his whole life is serving the Lord, and not out of himself.

You can't get out. You can do all sorts of things. Even in sin, we all sin. That doesn't matter. It doesn't suddenly... We're in his hand. You sin today, we're going to put you over here. That's not the way it works. It doesn't matter what you say, do. It doesn't matter how you feel. You're in his hand. Once you get that in your mind, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you're feeling like today, whether you're up, down, around, you're in His hands. Full assurance. There's nothing I can do to get out of His hands. Nothing. And so, you know, if you're worried about, like I said, when the house is empty, don't worry. Don't worry.

If you know the Lord, and really I think you hit it too, I think the old man and Satan are the ones who love to bring in the doubt. The old man wants to bring it up because he wants to do something. I mean, the old man is the one who wants, you know, hey buddy, you ought to be doing spiritual push-ups over here, buddy. You're not making the grade today. The old man is the one wanting things done. The new man doesn't. He's in Christ.

So I mean, when those doubts come, it's the old man and Satan trying to bring the doubts and do that. As you know God's Word, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. So any last thoughts? Confessing means you're agreeing with God. You're agreeing with what his word says. That's what confession is. You're agreeing with God. We didn't get to some of them. There are great ones. You know, I'll just read this one real quick. And this is another one of those ones, just like John 28, Romans 8, 35 through 39. This is a great one. Put yourself in this position.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, For thy sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Okay, what was missed there? What is going to separate us from the Lord? Anybody got any loopholes in that one? Got any legal scholars out there that can figure a loophole in that one?

I don't think so. Nothing can separate us from the love. So when you have that doubt, you know It's not it's you got to have the full assurance. There's nothing that separates you from the love even in trials Nothing separates us from his love Nothing.

All right, let's close real quick in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you again just for the assurance that we have, and we thank you that it's through your word and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who implements it in our life. We just thank you for that assurance. There is no doubt that we are eternally children of yours, and we thank you even through trials. that there is no doubt that you still love us with a love that surpasses all knowledge. And we just thank you for the peace that surpasses all knowledge and the rest. We thank you for that, that we have the assurance knowing that we are children of yours eternally. We just thank you and commit this day to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, questions number eight. If you haven't picked it up, they're somewhere out there. They're right there in front of Erica. I am. Are you going to run away now?