3 Benefits of Assurance

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It's reasoned relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio. Exodus 15, 13, the Word of God says this, In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

Hi, Alex McFarland here. Welcome to Truth for a New Generation. This scripture is part of Exodus 15, and it's sometimes referred to in Bibles as the Song of Moses.

And we're going to talk about three benefits of knowing the Lord that give us assurance. Now, remember Israel had been delivered from Egypt. They had been slaves for hundreds of years.

Moses squared off against Pharaoh, and Pharaoh threatened to make their servitude even harder. But through the plagues and through the power of God, they were led out of Egypt. The sides of the ocean were parted left and right, and Israel was able to pass through and be delivered.

You know, think about this. The guilt of our sins, the law of God, they were parted, and we were able to pass through on this dry ground that we call the narrow road, the pathway of life. You know in John 14, 6, when Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life.

Jesus is that pathway. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 in the Old Testament. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not lean on your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your path. Literally, God will put you on the path of life and deliverance. So in the Song of Moses, Moses recounts some of the ways God has blessed and delivered and protected.

And we read about this. It says, in your unfailing love, you will love God. You will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength, you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

In this one verse, there are actually two messages. What I want to give you are three benefits of knowing the Lord that give us assurance. But really, first, four attributes or characteristics of God are visible in this verse. And the nature of God, sometimes scholars talk about the attributes of God, the character of God, characteristics of the true and living God.

These really do give us assurance, and it makes our stability and our peace of mind possible. Okay, look, in this verse, you've got God's strength, God's wisdom, God's holiness, and yes, God's dwelling. Okay, it talks about his holy dwelling.

Do you know, part of the fact that God is eternal, and part of the reason that he could be the eternal God is because of his absolute strength. Absolute unblemished holiness. Righteousness.

Absolute purity. Virtue. Holiness. And let's just use that biblical word, righteousness. God is a righteous God.

What does that mean? Well, I want to reference two biblical passages. For one, Exodus 3.14, when Moses got his call to the ministry. You remember the burning bush. And God had said, you're going to go to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh, let my people go.

Who shall I say sent me? Moses asked. And the voice out of the bush said, I am that I am.

That is amazing. I mean, some of the most amazing words in the Bible. But I would say to you, some of the most amazing words that could ever or have ever coursed through the mind of a human. In fact, when people ask me, you know, Alex, why do you believe in God? And specifically the biblical God.

One of the reasons that I passionately do believe in the biblical God, not only because my life was changed at age 21 when I accepted Christ into my life, many, many reasons. Answered prayer. The power of the Scriptures. Fulfilled prophecy. The resurrection of Jesus. The empty tomb.

Another reason that I definitely do believe in the biblical God is because it is the biblical worldview alone that really, really, really makes sense. The biblical worldview answers the relevant questions. Origin. Purpose.

Destiny. Where did we come from? Why are we here?

Where are we going? The biblical worldview answers the question of what is wrong with the world. You know, why is the world the way it is?

Positively and negatively. You know, why are humans like they are? Why are there bad things in the world? The biblical worldview alone gives a substantive cohesive, comprehensive answer and an answer corroborated by evidence like the empty tomb. But another reason, folks, one of the reasons that I would submit to you that the Christian view of God is truth. Because the conception of God, the biblical God, is different from any of the other gods of the other belief systems or religions. And I would submit to you, like the Exodus 3.14 verse, where God tells Moses, I am that I am. Not only is that different from every other belief system throughout history, I would submit to you that the I AM of Jehovah God, the biblical God, and the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, One God, Three Persons, this is not something that man did make up.

This is not something that man could make up. Because it's altogether different. Now, let's talk about the nature of God as righteous. Because what brings death is sin. Now, we know in Romans 6.23, it says the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now we know sin separates us from God. Sin separates us from each other. But sin, among other things, sin is that which tends toward non-being. And part of the reason that God is the eternal God is because in Him is no darkness at all.

All of the belief systems that are yin and yang, and there's two poles forever entwined in some cosmic dance, that's false. That's not the real God. The true and living God is God. The real God is righteous.

And because you have Him in your life, He sees you as righteous if you're a born-again Christian. And so that's a fascinating reality not only about God but our relationship with Him. Now we've got to take a brief break, but when we come back we're going to continue talking about the nature of God and then the benefits of knowing God on this edition of Truth for a New Generation. Join Alex McFarland for Spiritual Awakening in Our Times. Study in the book of Acts, June 25-27 in the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove near Asheville, North Carolina. Acts records the first days of the early church and tells the story of a powerful spiritual awakening among Jews and Gentiles alike. The book of Acts also contains personal lessons about revival for believers like us today. In the seminar, Alex will examine God's principles for spiritual awakening.

You'll also discover how you could personally walk in the power and joy of the Holy Spirit, regardless of your circumstances. To register for Spiritual Awakening in Our Times, study in the book of Acts with Alex McFarland, June 25-27. Go to thecove.org.

Seminar packages include options for seminar, meals, and lodging. Register online at thecove.org. America today is like a patient struggling to live, yet is being forcibly euthanized by her, quote, doctors. The life force within the patient fighting for survival is the honest citizens like yourself.

The team of, quote, caregivers are the local and national leaders actually contributing to the demise of the patient. The economy is crashing. Crime is exploding. The Constitution is being abolished. The assault on America, how to defend our nation before it's too late by Alex McFarland, has one single purpose, to get you prepared.

Learn the real source of America's current problems that no one else is talking about, and what you can do now to face tomorrow, regardless of what tomorrow brings. The assault on America, how to defend our nation before it's too late, available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and local Christian bookstores. For apologetics resources, books by Alex McFarland, and to find out where Alex is speaking, visit alexmcfarland.com. Welcome back to the program.

Alex McFarland here. Thank you for listening to Truth for a New Generation. You know, I wrote a book last fall, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late, and I talk about the need for the restoration of a moral compass.

I talk about the founders and how they really wove morality into their conception of this culture, this government, this nation. And the book, I Give God the Praise, but it was number one in three categories on Amazon, still selling very well. And, you know, it's funny. Some of the things that I predicted in the book are in the news like every day, and it's funny because one of the publishers that was going to publish this book said, in no way it's too much over the top, Alex, these things like felons being given voting rights, and opening the borders to hundreds of thousands of illegals, and giving 12 to 15 million current illegals voting rights.

Yeah, it's called H.R. 1, and it's happening. And so I take no joy in that, but, you know, it's not hard to see where we are and where we're going if we really don't have a revival of morality and turn to God. And I want to invite you to something really special. In fact, I would ask you to please just right now, today or within the next day or so, go online and register for this. I'm going to be at the COVE, the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina, June 25 through 27. We're going to be talking about the book of Acts. We're going to go through the New Testament book of Acts, written by Luke the Apostle, but we're going to talk about revival and spiritual awakening.

In my book, The Assault on America, the subtitle is How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late. And there is a way, and there's a pathway, there's a roadmap to a spiritual awakening, and we're going to talk about that. You'll be with people from all over the country. We'll pray together. I look forward to visiting with you.

Randall Murphy of the American Family Association, he'll be there, the AFA Journal. And we're going to study the book of Acts. So go to theCOVE.org, t-h-e-c-o-v-e, theCOVE.org. Register.

It will fill up. Please go to the website, theCOVE.org, and I would love for you to be there as we go through the book of Acts. But let's resume our talk about the nature of God. God's perfect, thorough, complete righteousness is part of why he is the eternal God. Because there is no darkness, there's no sin, there's no evil, there's no death in God. God is the foundation of life. And it's very comforting because every now and then people will ask the question, could God ever somehow go out of existence?

And the answer is no. And when he told Moses in Exodus 3.14, I am that I am, what this means, we've talked about it many times, it is God's nature to be. God could not, not be. So God is, not was or will be, but God is. God is forever in the eternal now.

And what's interesting is that God is not bound by time, past, present, future, although God acts in time, God reaches into this world he's created and he does things. And part of this world, there's time, space, and matter, the creation in Genesis 1.1, it says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Not evolved, not spontaneous generation, but God called it into existence. Now, scholars have a big fat 85 cent word for that, it's called ex nihilo, that's Latin for from out of nothing. God created everything from out of nothing.

Now in this space, matter, universe, you've got space, that's where things are, you've got matter. A part of that is time, and the Greek word that's often used is chronos, from which we get chronology, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, whether it's a chronology of hours or a chronology of centuries. We're living in a world of time. Now God can act in time, he can do things, but God is not bound by time.

Interestingly, as I record this particular radio show, it's my birthday, and so I was born in 1964, so time passes on, doesn't it? But God is not bound by time, because he is the I AM THAT I AM, and he is forever. Now that's encouraging, because listen, God's strength, God is all powerful, he has all the power. God is wisdom. God has knowledge.

Now listen, you and I can learn things, we can have intelligence or pursue wisdom, but God is all knowledge, and that's why we get guidance from God. And God is holy. His righteousness, as we've said, makes possible his eternality. And then finally, Exodus 15-13 talks about his holy dwelling. Now, Christ is the king, and kings have a kingdom. And God has a kingdom, heaven, but his dwelling is the full universe.

In other words, all of creation belongs to God. So, that outline about God's strength, wisdom, holiness, and his dwelling really takes us to the outline that I want to talk about, the benefits of knowing the Lord that give us assurance. And frankly, I think this fresh vision of God could be the pathway that leads us to revival. Now, there's a great book called Revival Revived by a man that I used to know and was a colleague at the North American Mission Board years ago when I was the apologetics director for the North American Mission Board. John Avent says, quote, �Apart from revival, the church begins to look something less than a church, a religious club maybe, perhaps a high-energy show or a low-energy funeral, but something less than a church is meant to be or can be.� So, how do we have revival? Well, one of the things that is so exciting and I think reviving and pumps us up and refreshes our zeal for life, the gospel, and worship is a fresh view of God. Listen, we know the world is fallen, the world is broken, we know sin is rampant, but listen, the nature of God and the message of God changes lives and part of the key to revival is a fresh view of God.

Maybe right now you need your own heart uplifted, you need encouragement, you need to know that God is with you, you need to know that your prayers are being heard, and you need to know that God's plan for you has not been forfeited, but God is with you. When we come back, now stay tuned, when we come back, we're going to talk about the benefits of knowing the Lord that give us assurance on this edition of Truth for a New Generation. Welcome to the podcast, I hear you. We are so excited that you joined us, and this is just going to be a great new podcast dealing with issues around race, issues around friendship, and how do we deal with the tough issues. And I'm so excited to be here with my good friend, Alex. It's great to be with you, Odell, and on the I Hear You podcast, we talk about race, we talk about culture, we talk about politics, and sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but we find resolution and common ground. And you know what's really cool? Not only do we learn new things, we make friends, we grow, and that's good for all of us.

We're just two friends, one white, one black, and we just invite everyone to come and join and share with us. It's a big difference between hearing and listening, and we're going to show people. We love it, we look forward to it. And audience, thank you so much for giving us this chance.

I Hear You with Alex and Odell, wherever you get your podcasts. Are you tired of liberal agendas ruining our country, but you don't know what to do about it? That's why Truth and Liberty Coalition was founded. We want to equip you to take back our country and impact the world. Here's how we do it. We educate through broadcasts, conferences, and our website, with resources that inform, equip, and motivate. We unify by collaborating with like-minded organizations like the Family Research Council, the Family Policy Alliance, and My Faith Votes. We mobilize by providing practical tools you can use to impact your local community.

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You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio. You know, I love the biographies of great Christian leaders of times past, and I think they're very inspiring for us today. One of the Christian leaders that made an impact for the world because he knew who God was was Samuel Johnson.

Now, listen to this. In 1756, Samuel Johnson wrote an introduction to the political state of Great Britain. And he said this, quote, No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous. Samuel Johnson was a devout believer in Christ. He's the second most quoted Englishman in history. I bet you can guess who the first was. Yes, William Shakespeare. But Samuel Johnson, he was a lexicographer, in other words, a word man, and he wrote the Oxford Dictionary.

Samuel Johnson learned to read by somewhere just before his fourth birthday. His mother one morning put the Book of Common Prayer into his hands and pointed to the reading for the day and said, Sam, you must learn this by heart, end of quote. So she turns around to leave him to read it. She's walking upstairs. The mother hears her little boy's footsteps and she turns around and she was halfway up the steps and he recited the devotional for the day by heart, verbatim.

She said, How did you do that? I read it twice. My point in this, the thing that moves individuals to invest their life in truth, the thing that changes nations and frankly not only saves souls but can save nations is Jesus and truth. Now, I want to give you the benefits of knowing the Lord, but let me just say this about why the gospel of Jesus Christ will save this nation. Because there is a law of logic called the law of composition. The law of composition says the parts make up the whole. If the parts are good, equally good will be the whole. And listen, if lives are changed by Jesus, the nation will be changed.

But Samuel Johnson was right. Just like God's eternality is directly tied to his pervasive righteousness. Our preservation really depends on the Lord calling us to righteousness, virtue, goodness. Believe it folks. It's a warning.

It's a reality. Sin brings death. But the path of righteousness brings life. So what are the benefits of knowing the Lord, having a relationship with God? Number one, his unfailing love. Exodus 15, 13 says, In your unfailing love you will lead us. Listen, you might have experienced contingent love, conditional love, but God's love is unconditional. God's love for you is constant. His love never fails. His guidance, his wisdom, his power, his grace to you, his favor, his love is unfailing.

Think about that. Do you need unfailing love in your life? Well, Exodus 15, 13 says that you can have it just like Moses and Israel did. Secondly, his trustworthy leadership. It says that God, quote, will lead the people. God will guide the people. It's a Hebrew word, n-a-h-a-l, n-a-h-l. And it means guided to a watering place. Now this is the very same word used in Psalm 23, 2, where it says, He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. And you know Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. Well, listen, just as the good shepherd leads his sheep by the still waters, that very same word says that he will guide you and lead you if you need guidance, and certainly we do. People are talking about the economy is going to crash, political instability.

Will America revert to socialism or divert, really, to socialism because we've never been socialist? Listen, we need the leadership of God, and he promises to give that. And number three, his merciful redemption. Notice it says, the people you have redeemed.

Now, the wording there, listen carefully, really says the people to whom you have acted as kinsmen. Now, you remember Ruth and Boaz? Boaz was able to be the savior for indigent, homeless Ruth.

Why? Because he was a near kinsman, he was able and he was willing, and he was a messianic figure. Jesus is able to be our savior because he is able and willing.

Of the line of David, he had the right pedigree, the family lineage, he was holy, he was fully God, yet fully man. And Jesus was able to take the punishment for us as our kinsman redeemer. So we have God's unfailing love, we have God's trustworthy leadership, and we have God's merciful redemption. To where? To his holy temple, his habitation.

Now, do you know what's so beautiful? When you leave this world, you will be with Jesus, if you're a believer. But even until we get there, you have his habitation.

Now, where is that? Well, it's in your heart and in your soul, but it's you in his presence, and in fact in the palm of his hand. Do you know, this is so encouraging, so reassuring, but listen to this as I close. We're talking about the assurance we get from God, his love, his leadership, his presence, all of those things, his kingdom. 1 Corinthians 15, 58, �Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.� And then Ephesians 6, 13, �Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.� Isn't that something? Because of who God is and what God has done, we are not moved. We're not shaken. We're not trembling in our boots. We are immovable. We're steadfast. And then it says that we are to stand in Christ, and having done all, to stand. My dear friend, for God and country, for truth, for the souls of people, for the Great Commission, for the moment that we see the King, one day soon. Listen, we can stand strong.

We can carry on. We can be joyful. We know God is in control, and Exodus 15, 13 reminds us of this. God's grace is as sufficient in America for us today as it has proved to be throughout history in all times and all places. God is there, and God is in control, and we can trust him in this. Please keep us in prayer.

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