How to have Full Assurance of Freedom

ILLUSTRATION

Freed Soldiers Learn to Trust Rescuer's Voice

On January 28, 1945, as World War II was groaning to a close, 121 elite Army Rangers liberated over 500 POWs, mostly Americans, from a Japanese prisoner of war camp near Cabanatuan in the Philippines.

The prisoners, many of whom were survivors of the infamous Bataan death march, were in awful condition, physically and emotionally. Before the Rangers arrived, the primary Japanese guard unit had left the camp because of Japan's massive retreat from the Philippines. The new situation was precarious. Japanese troops were still around and in the camp, but they kept their distance from the prisoners. The men of Cabanatuan didn't quite know what to make of their new freedom—if freedom was in fact what it was. And then, without warning, the American Rangers swept upon the camp in furious force.

But one of one of the most interesting facets of the story was the reaction of many of the prisoners. They were so defeated, diseased, and familiar with deceit that many needed to be convinced they were actually free. Was it a trick? A trap? Was this real? One prisoner, Captain Bert Bank, struggling with blindness caused by a vitamin deficiency, couldn't clearly make out his would-be rescuers. He refused to budge. Finally, a soldier walked up to him, tugged his arm, and said, "What's wrong with you? Don't you want to be free?" Bank, from Alabama, recognized the familiar southern accent of his questioner. A smile formed on his lips, and he willingly and thankfully began his journey to freedom.

Finally, well away from what had been, for years, the site of an ongoing, horrific assault on their humanity, the newly freed prisoners began their march home. In the description of one prisoner, contrasting it with the Bataan nightmare years earlier, "It was a long, slow, steady march …but this was a life march, a march of freedom."

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BIG IDEA: The freedom of Assurance brings us to Endurance

Definition of endurance

1: the ability to withstand hardship or adversity especially : the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity

3: PERMANENCE, DURATION

1.Full Assurance leads us to a faith that believes what God says.

ILLUSTRATION:

Faith is to believe what God says, to take Him at His word, to take it to be true, real, a matter of fact. Let’s say for example a man tells you that your house is one fire. What do you do? Do you stand around debating whether your house is really on fire or not? You know what I would do, you know what your would, you know what any sane person would do. But when we are told in God’s Word that you are in danger of the wrath to come, do you believe what you read? No, you do not, or you would not be so at ease right now sitting in your chair. Your imminent peril would prompt an instant policy change in your life. I wish to God that what men call faith in a religious point of view were as prompt in it’s proceedings as the common acts of faith that we exercise everyday toward our fellow man. The fact is that we say we have assurance of faith but what we really mean is that we raised our hand in some evangelical event, or walked an isle, said, a prayer, put our name on a card and that’s it. If you want to be saved believe God as you would believe the one who told you that your house was on fire. Believe God as you would believe your friend.

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What we value the most shows what we treasure the most.

If we believe what God say’s then we learn to value the freedom we have in Christ.

v.5 tells us that faith is all about eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness.

When Christ has true value in your life you believe Him as you would the friend who tells you that your house is on fire.

“If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you....(of no value or benefit)

v.1 reminds us of our subjective freedom in Christ; that we are no longer obeying God under a burden of enslavement as our motivation.

v.2-4 reminds us of our objective freedom in Christ; that we are freed from the obligation to obey the whole law in order to be justified before God. Paul is saying that the gospel frees us from both the guilt and slavery of sin.

Does verse 4 mean that real Christians can lose their salvation, can truly fall away from grace? It can appear that way.

But, as we will see immediately below (v 5–6), Christians base their whole lives on the assurance and certainty of their present and future acceptance with God. Assurance of salvation is not possible if we think we must earn or even maintain our salvation by our efforts. If we keep ourselves saved by good living, how could we ever be sure we were being good enough to retain God’s favor? Yet the Bible often says that we Christians can know we are safe and saved (eg: ). In other words, we didn’t earn our salvation by our behavior, and we can’t “un-earn” it by our behavior.

John says of anyone who turns their back on the faith permanently: “They were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” (, ESV).

John’s point is that true Christians are saved by grace, and show they are Christians by continuing to trust in that grace! Therefore those who fall away from grace never truly trusted in the grace of God in the first place.

v.10 “This is why Paul say’s that he is confident in the Lord that you will take no other view” - he believes that they are real Christians, and so their positive response to his warning will show that they do believe the gospel and take it to heart.

WARNING: Don’t miss the warning that v.2-4 bring. Paul is saying no matter whether you insist that you have been converted or you say you feel Christ has changed your life. If by deciding your salvation rests in any way on your performance you deny Salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, you cannot be saved by Him. He is saying that this is an acid test of whether someone is a Christian or not.

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We Hope for what we Have.

Instead of striving for righteousness - an effort which is doomed to failure - Paul encourages the Galatians to simply “WAIT”.

The word translated “value” means “to have power” when used to describe people, but when used of things it means “to be serviceable” or “to make a profit”.

Neither moral exertion nor moral failure counts for anything period.

Why? First, neither religion nor lack of religion count toward establishing a relationship with God. Paul has just said that our future acceptance with God is already certain through the work of Christ; we can eagerly and confidently await our glorious righteousness.

  The biblical word elpida, translated “hope”, does not have the much weaker meaning that it has in English Language.

The biblical word elpida, translated “hope”, does not have the much weaker meaning that it has in English Language.

In the Bible, “hope” does not mean “hope so”, as in: “Will it be sunny tomorrow?” “I hope so (but I have no way of being confident it will be so)”. It means a powerful assurance and certainty of something (see ).

This is a major problem for the reader of the English Bible. The word that means “total assurance” in Greek means “not so sure” in English. It is easy therefore to misunderstand many passages!

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The posture of our hope is Waiting!

Cultural Connection: We are horrible at waiting. Our nature is bent towards impatience. We want what we want and we want it now. We go to God for answers and if they don’t materialize in a timely manner we move into our holy pout.

*We must practice our waiting skills.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him....”

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

*Notice the benefits of learning the posture of waiting.

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said.......

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

NOTE: Child-birth takes 9 months that seems like an eternity, but when the moment of the birth happens the pay-off is incredible, it’s well worth the wait.

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What does it mean to have Full Assurance?

2.Full assurance leads us to a faith that brings balance to our Christian life.

Christian life.

Can someone live the Christian life without full assurance of faith. Yes, but their effectiveness will be meager at best.

The true sense of the word “hope” is indicated in verse 5 of , because Paul says that we simply “await” this righteousness. We don’t work or strive for it. We know it is coming, on its way. So we can wait eagerly, rather than anxiously.

What is it that we are Waiting for?

Paul is saying that we can live today with perfect certainty and assurance, guaranteed, future glorification and welcomed by God into His arms, because we know that “since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (4:7).

Cultural Connection: There is no other secular person, no follower of any other religion, can look at their future like this!

Non-religious people have no idea where they will be a million years from now, and religious people without the gospel are anxious about where they will be, and cannot relax or look forward to it with eagerness.

We are living today in an era of minimal faith not maximum faith!

Certainty of our future is a fruit of the gospel

“For I am now ready to be poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth their is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” ()

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with the pure water.”

NOTE: The problem today is that people do not realize that they do not have true full assurance. They mistake faith for assurance. A deep yearning and groaning for the kingdom of God. A passion for evangelism, a mortification of sin in our lives.

FULL ASSURANCE: This is person who is known by their fruits: a close relationship; child like trust; willing obedience, thirsting after God; unspeakable peace and joy in the triune God.

Feelings have stunted or caused a lack of genuine assurance of faith. The Charismatic movement has stunted the full assurance and replaced it with our emotions and feelings that can be fickle and fleeting.

NOTE: Some hyped up or watered down gospel Christian meeting where we raised our hand or placed our name on a commitment card but have never had a robust deep, abiding, passionate, relationship with Jesus Christ. Many people fall into the false assurance category. Jesus himself said there will be many outside of the throne room of God who never truly had full assurance.

FALSE ASSURANCE TRUSTS IN THESE TWO THINGS.

1) Sentimental Emotion (based more on what we feel than on who we know)

2) Dry intellectualism (based more on what we know than on who we know.)

PEOPLE WHO HAVE FULL ASSURANCE TRUST IN THESE

2 THINGS

1) They view heaven as their home.

2) The love of Christ constrains their everyday life

*Neither Religion nor lack of religion counts as anything towards a relationship with God. (Our future acceptance by God is already assured and confident.)

*So when we experience a success we should say: But this success does not increase Christ’s love for us. If we failed in some way, that would not make me any more loved and accepted by god than I am at this moment.

This leads to tremendous peace and balance in our Christian Life! This should eliminate huge ups and downs For we are all in “circumcision” (spiritual success) or “uncircumcision” (spiritual failure) all the time, and Paul says that neither condition “counts.”

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3. Full assurance leads us to a faith that is energized by love.

Circumcision and non-circumcision are “of no value” because “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (v 6). Faith literally energizes love.

And neither religious moralism nor licentious non-religiosity can do this, because both are essentially selfish and insecure. Selfishness and insecurity cannot produce love, because love is joyful self-giving, sacrificial.

ILLUSTRATION

Imagine that someone comes to you and asks you to marry them, but you came to realize that they would not want you if you did not come with an inheritance. You would feel used. You would not feel loved at all Now we all know that we don’t feel loved by someone unless we are loved for who we are, not for what we bring him or her. This should help us to understand the motivation of the gospel. When we thought our works saved us, we were serving God for what we could get from Him. We were using Him. But after the hope of the gospel settles in, and we see the grace and beauty of God

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In the gospel, we see that Christ has died for us and valued us not for what we bring Him. We are of no profit to Him! We have been loved for our own sakes.

When you recite your wedding vows at the alter do they say I promise to love you if you will never disappoint me or let me down; or I promise to love, honor, and cherish you if you look the same way you do today. Not those would be horrible vows.

The full assurance that we experience in the love of Christ is energized by a sheer delight in God, for the sheer love of others.

*Living in light of our certain hope gives us a heart that is overflowing with love.

NOTE: We don’t need to seek righteousness and welcome from others, since these things are already ours; we are free to love others, seeking their good.

Cultural NOTE: When we find our love running dry or cold, the root of our lack of love is that we are not, by faith, looking at our hope. If we find ourselves unloving the solution is not to seek to love better or more; it is to look at Christ, who gives us an unlosable, unshakable acceptance from the Father and so we dwell in that hope.

ILLUSTRATION

Love is Faith’s Arm and Tool

Faith is like a metalworker who is about to prepare a fine work of art, such as smiths used to produce in the days of wrought iron. Faith, like a strong metal smith, has love as its arm. Faith does not lift a finger without love. Faith believes and resolves, and then it proceeds to action, but the power with which it can work lies in love. Faith without love would be a cripple without arms.

Love is not only faiths arm but its tools. Love is faith’s hammer, file, and anvil - its every strong movement. You have seen a wrench that has been made to fit every nut and bolt, however large or small. Love is just such a tool, for love will teach a little child or evangelize a nation. Love can stand and burn at the stake, or it can drop two coins into the offering box. Love hopes all things, endures all things; it will do anything faith wishes it to do. Only let faith wield love as its instrument, and it can fashion whatever divine wisdom tells it to form.

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4.Full assurance leads us to a faith that finishes the race.

FINISH THE RACE:

Paul now interrupts his flow to ward the Galatian Christians once more. They had been “running a good race” - but now, as they listen to the false teachers, they are being “kept...from obeying the truth” (v7).

Charles Spurgeon -

Once said: “we can do a great deal at a spurt, but we are not able to keep it up. There are a great many people who enter the church and are splendid fellows for a short time. If they could get to heaven in a one-mile race, they would surely win the prize; but they have no staying power in them.

Those who finish the race have staying power

7-8 Who has hindered you, who has mis-led you. It’s not from the one who called you i.e. God.

Some runners get dehydrated and collapse before they ever reach the finish line. Why?

“You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”

,

“That the truth of the gospel might be preserved in you....”

“Your conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel...”

When do we get the assurance of faith that finishes the race. It takes time to develop this robust zeal and passion for the Lord.

Growing in assurance is a life long process. We may discount those who truly do have saving faith even though they don’t have the full assurance of faith at the very beginning of their conversion. This does not discount that God could give large amounts of assurance to a new believer.

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Those who finish the race learn to cultivate assurance.

CULTIVATE: Means to prepare for use, or to make usable.

v.8 Paul identifies that the work of persuasion that has a hold on their decisions is not from God.

“It’s Effect”

v.9 “A little leaven.” One piece of false doctrine can infect the whole batch.

This is the cause and effect of false teaching.

LACK OF PREPARATION FOR THE RACE

We are called to be fruit producers......

Ordinary Means of Grace to grow in Assurance:

(Spiritual Discipline's)

10/10/10

10 minutes in bible reading

10 minutes in meditation

10 minutes in prayer

1) The Bible (reading, listening, meditating, memorizing, obedience, dependence) “If you spend little time in God’s word you can experience little assurance in your life.”(Note: you need a good study bible with good notes)

We Meditate on it (prevents sinful thoughts, gives you inner resources to draw from, serves as a weapon, provides relief in afflictions, glorifies God.)

2) The Lords Supper (all 5 of our senses are involved, we hear the word of God as the elements come to us, we feel, taste, and smell.)

3) The Power of Prayer (Most valuable gift in all of the world. Do you know what the difference between a believer and an unbeliever is? The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is that a believer has a place to go. All the money in the world is not worth the open throne of grace that you can go to.)

4) The times of Afflictions (when did your assurance grow the most, usually it is in the deep times of afflictions. Assurance transforms our trials.)

You must pursue the fruit of the Spirit that we will get into deeper over the next couple of weeks.

vrs. 11-12

Paul points out that the message of circumcision is inoffensive, popular, but the message of the cross is however offensive to your human pride and is unpopular.

We live in a church age of tolerance. Men love to have the best of both worlds and hate to be forced to choose. It is commonly said that it does not matter what people believe so long as they are sincere, and that it is unwise to clarify issues too plainly or to focus them too sharply.

“Christianity will not allow us to sit on the fence or live in a haze; it urges us to live a life of Full Assurance.

*DEFINITE AND DECISIVE

Circumcision stands for a religion of human achievement, of what man has done.

Christ stands for a religion of divine achievement, of what God has done through the finished work of Christ.

Those who finish the race have a freedom of conscience.

Conscience: is the sense of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of ones own conduct, intentions and character.

v.13-15

Christ has rid us of the burden of guilt and shame. Our Christian life began not with our decision to follow Christ but with God’s call to us to do so. He took the initiative in His grace while we were still in rebellion and sin. In that state we neither wanted to turn from sin to Christ, nor were we able to. But He came to us and called us to freedom. Christian freedom is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.

On the outset we are all ‘called to freedom’, the freedom which is peace with God, the cleansing of our guilty conscience through faith in Christ crucified, the unutterable joy of forgiveness, acceptance, access and sonship, the experience of mercy without merit.

The full assurance that we experienc

ILLUSTRATION

When my grandmother died she left very little behind. My grandmother and granddaddy grew up working the cotton fields of west Texas. They eventually lived in an oil camp outside of Hobbs N.M. Neither of my grandparents had much education. The thing I remember most about my grandmother who her great grandchildren referred to as “GG”, she drew great assurance from the word of God, through meditation, prayer, and affliction. She lived out the final day’s of her life facing terminal cancer. She died at my parents house in Midland Texas with the word of God opened on her night stand where she had been the previous night before, growing her full assurance in the hope of God, through the eternal word of God.

WHAT ARE YOU DRAWING ON FOR YOUR ASSURANCE TODAY? Today in the freedom of Christ we have the assurance that brings us endurance to finish the race. So, the greater question for you today is are you going to be a casualty of the race or are you going to stand in the victory circle at the end of the race.