ALWAYS GO TO CALVARY...
Blessed Redeemer
1 Up Calv'ry's mountain one dreadful morn Walked Christ, my Savior, weary and worn; Facing for sinners death on the cross, That He might save them from endless loss. Chorus: Blessed Redeemer! Precious Redeemer! Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree; Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading-- Blind and unheeding— dying for me! 2 "Father, forgive them!" thus did He pray, E'en while His lifeblood flowed fast away; Praying for sinners while in such woe– No one but Jesus ever loved so. [Chorus] 3 O how I love Him, Savior and Friend, How can my praises ever find end? Thro' years unnumbered on heaven's shore, My tongue shall praise Him forevermore. [Chorus] |
Author-Avis Marguerite Burgeson was born in 1895 and lived in Chicago all her life. She attended the Moody Church, pastored for many years by Dr. Harry Ironside. In 1917, Avis Burgeson married Ernest Christiansen who later became a vice president of Moody Bible Institute.
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The stated purpose of the letter of 1 John is to give assurance (see 5:13).
True Christians can have at least occasional doubts about whether they are right with God. Doubting assurance is not unbelief. Doubt is not the same as unbelief.
The Causes of Doubt Are Many
1. Sometimes the doubt comes because of unrepentant sin. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit, and since He is the One who gives us the experience of assurance, when we grieve Him, we may temporarily lose our assurance.
2. Sometimes spiritual indolence is the cause.
3. Sometimes Satan accuses us and plants doubts in our minds.
4. Sometimes the pressure of trials or harsh circumstances drives us to doubt our relationship with the Lord.
5. Sometimes we doubt merely because of our physical or mental conditions at the time.
6. Sometimes, even though we may not have caused it by sin, God withdraws a conscious sense of His presence from us (and with it a sense of assurance) so that we might learn to walk by faith and not by feelings or sight.
7. Spiritual immaturity may contribute to doubts about assurance.
When God saves people and removes their blindness, they not only see the things of God as never before, but they are given new vision into both righteousness and sin. They see their sin more clearly and are starkly aware of previously unperceived sins.
If new Christians don’t understand why this is happening, they may think they’re not Christians at all. At first they felt clean, new, and forgiven, but now they feel sin-saturated.
Do you feel this way? If so, don’t panic. You should be encouraged to know that this new sensitivity to sin is actually one of the best signs that you are a Christian.
7. Comparison with other Christians may cloud assurance. (2 Corinthians 10:12)
Concl.: Always go back to Calvary...
True Christians can have at least occasional doubts about whether they are right with God. Doubting assurance is not unbelief. Doubt is not the same as unbelief.
The Causes of Doubt Are Many
1. Sometimes the doubt comes because of unrepentant sin. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit, and since He is the One who gives us the experience of assurance, when we grieve Him, we may temporarily lose our assurance.
2. Sometimes spiritual indolence is the cause.
3. Sometimes Satan accuses us and plants doubts in our minds.
4. Sometimes the pressure of trials or harsh circumstances drives us to doubt our relationship with the Lord.
5. Sometimes we doubt merely because of our physical or mental conditions at the time.
6. Sometimes, even though we may not have caused it by sin, God withdraws a conscious sense of His presence from us (and with it a sense of assurance) so that we might learn to walk by faith and not by feelings or sight.
7. Spiritual immaturity may contribute to doubts about assurance.
When God saves people and removes their blindness, they not only see the things of God as never before, but they are given new vision into both righteousness and sin. They see their sin more clearly and are starkly aware of previously unperceived sins.
If new Christians don’t understand why this is happening, they may think they’re not Christians at all. At first they felt clean, new, and forgiven, but now they feel sin-saturated.
Do you feel this way? If so, don’t panic. You should be encouraged to know that this new sensitivity to sin is actually one of the best signs that you are a Christian.
7. Comparison with other Christians may cloud assurance. (2 Corinthians 10:12)
Concl.: Always go back to Calvary...
Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary.
Because, when you go back to Calvary, with a heart of confession and trust! God will reveal His faithfulness, and what needs to be done! (1 John 1:7-9; Luke 23:39-43, 34)