Title: Experience with certainty/Colossians 2:1-7
Contents
Subject: Confident Experience/Colossians 2:1-7
1. Assurance of Salvation
1) When a Christian is not sure of his salvation, it can easily turn into despair, misery, or sorrow.
2) A firm and strong conviction entails indescribable consequences. This is especially evident when the believer becomes convinced that an "incorruptible, undefiled, and incorruptible inheritance" (1 Peter 1:4) is given to him.
2. Meaning of Confidence
1) Confidence is Believers believe in Christ and are convinced that He has saved them. Abraham was fully convinced that he was able to fulfill what God had promised him.
2) Confidence means . Believers may feel despair or disappointment about their spiritual condition, but at the same time they are clearly aware that they have eternal life. Confidence does not come simply by feeling (Colossians 2:2-3).
(1) Hope and Confidence - Hope is one of God's gifts, and because of this, believers expect good things to happen in the future. The object of hope is God Himself. The believer's hope is to hold on to the Lord who is hope (Hebrews 6:18-20). Although the object of hope is in heaven, through experiential assurance, we possess and live the hope of eternal life on this earth.
(2) Faith and Confidence - Faith is like seeing the Lord. Seeing the Lord with the eyes of faith, believing in Him, seeing and believing, the believer sees himself in a state of happy union with the Lord. When that happens, you will live more confidently.
(3) Sanctification and Assurance - Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit to sanctify believers in Christ and make them follow the Lord. The believer must have confidence that the work of truth, love of brotherhood, and righteous deeds is done by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If this is by one's own efforts or by one's righteous deeds, then one cannot act with certainty. Because it is easy to fail.
3. Power from Confidence
1) Believers who have been justified and forgiven can worship God with the assurance of salvation and pray boldly (Hebrews 4:16, 10:19).
2) A believer who lives with confidence in the love of the Lord, shown by dying for our sins, is a person who clearly knows that God's love will never leave them (Romans 8:31-39).
3) Assurance enriches and strengthens the joy of the believer's life of faith. You can make better use of the gifts God has given you, enjoy communion with God more, strengthen your faith, and live a more perfect life. If a believer possesses a certain experience, he will know that in any tribulation or suffering, it is God's will for him to show him grace.