Finding Assurance Amidst Suffering and Doubt
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
"Suffering as we saw distinguishes true Ministry from the Prosperity Gospel preachers. We saw that in ABJ 2087. Then we looked at how not to respond to suffering in apj 2094 looking at Job's wife. We looked at the pain of a woman who has been sorely mistreated and how she should respond in ABJ 2095." [00:26]
"In this heavy season, a grieving dad writes in to ask us about his struggle with doubt in this Anonymous email. Dear Pastor John, my wife and I are grateful for your ministry and for this podcast and for the impact you have had on our lives. In January of this year, my wife gave birth to our firstborn baby boy." [00:56]
"Two weeks later, we woke up and our baby had suffocated. I did CPR for 10 minutes as the paramedics arrived and took him. I prayed for God to make him breathe again. I prayed at the hospital for the same thing, but he was gone. A situation which seemed too good to be true so quickly turned into a situation which seemed too terrible to be real." [01:43]
"Given our situation, I've thought about this a lot over the last several weeks, including apj episodes in which you describe your reasoning through Romans one. This and other resources and my own inferences from the Bible all seem to point in the same direction that my son is in heaven, but critically listening to the reasoning of others, there seems to be either a best guess attitude or arguments that have to skip to the conclusion sooner or later in their logic for lack of explicit biblical evidence on the topic." [02:05]
"I find that I am 99% sure that my son is in heaven, but there's always the little last bit of questioning or doubt. This doubt holds me back from rejoicing in the safety and final security and life that my child has with the Lord. So my question is this: can I freely rejoice in the fact that my son is in heaven, or will this be something I cannot be completely sure of until I am with Jesus in heaven too?" [02:39]
"The essence of the issue being raised is much broader than the immediate question about how we can be sure if a deceased infant is in heaven. I don't want to minimize that question, and I realize it is the most urgent one being asked at this heartbreaking moment by this heartbroken dad. But I think the way the question is posed really does make the issue very broad and very urgent for all of us." [03:08]
"Now my point is that there is perhaps no Doctrine, no truth claim for which the same thing could not be said. Does God exist? Is Christ Divine? Was Jesus raised from the dead? Is the death of Jesus the action of God to forgive sins? Is there a heaven, a hell? Is the Bible inherent? When our humblest, most fair-minded, most thorough, most diligent investigation of all the evidences is complete, it would be honest for most people to say these efforts bring me to 80, 90, 99% certainty." [05:30]
"Faith in the New Testament is not the opposite of knowing; it's the opposite of distrusting, rejecting, scorning. In 2 Corinthians 4:14, Paul says we believe and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us up with Jesus. We believe, knowing. Knowing leads to belief. It's not that the absence of knowing requires you to blindly believe." [07:49]
"The Bible intends for Christians to have assurance. Paul describes his ministry like this: I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you that your hearts may reach the full Assurance of the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. He wants full Assurance for his people. Hebrews 6:11, we desire each of you to show the same earnestness to have the full Assurance of Hope to the end." [09:00]
"The New Testament describes the closing of the last 1% as the supernatural shining in our hearts of a Divine spiritual light through the gospel. 2 Corinthians 4:6, God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It describes it as the witness of God's spirit himself. Romans 8:16, the spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." [10:15]
"The point is not that every doctrinal question has the same level of importance or is granted the same fullness of assurance. The point is that God wants his children to be fully assured that he's real, Christ is real, salvation is real, and we are really saved and really destined for Glory. And the way this relates to doctrinal questions that may not rise to the same level of certainty is that the profound experience of god-given spiritual sight and confidence and joy concerning the central reality of our Salvation will enable us to peacefully, joyfully leave in God's hands all the unanswered questions that remain." [11:31]
"Suffering comes in so many different forms in God's word, and our glorious savior is relevant to each and every one of those situations. And I think you can see that bear out over the 12 years or so we've been doing this podcast. I am Tony Ranky, Pastor John, and I will see you on Thursday. Thanks for listening." [12:45]
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"In this heavy season, a grieving dad writes in to ask us about his struggle with doubt in this Anonymous email. Dear Pastor John, my wife and I are grateful for your ministry and for this podcast and for the impact you have had on our lives. In January of this year, my wife gave birth to our firstborn baby boy." [00:56]
"Two weeks later, we woke up and our baby had suffocated. I did CPR for 10 minutes as the paramedics arrived and took him. I prayed for God to make him breathe again. I prayed at the hospital for the same thing, but he was gone. A situation which seemed too good to be true so quickly turned into a situation which seemed too terrible to be real." [01:43]
"Given our situation, I've thought about this a lot over the last several weeks, including apj episodes in which you describe your reasoning through Romans one. This and other resources and my own inferences from the Bible all seem to point in the same direction that my son is in heaven, but critically listening to the reasoning of others, there seems to be either a best guess attitude or arguments that have to skip to the conclusion sooner or later in their logic for lack of explicit biblical evidence on the topic." [02:05]
"I find that I am 99% sure that my son is in heaven, but there's always the little last bit of questioning or doubt. This doubt holds me back from rejoicing in the safety and final security and life that my child has with the Lord. So my question is this: can I freely rejoice in the fact that my son is in heaven, or will this be something I cannot be completely sure of until I am with Jesus in heaven too?" [02:39]
"The essence of the issue being raised is much broader than the immediate question about how we can be sure if a deceased infant is in heaven. I don't want to minimize that question, and I realize it is the most urgent one being asked at this heartbreaking moment by this heartbroken dad. But I think the way the question is posed really does make the issue very broad and very urgent for all of us." [03:08]
"Now my point is that there is perhaps no Doctrine, no truth claim for which the same thing could not be said. Does God exist? Is Christ Divine? Was Jesus raised from the dead? Is the death of Jesus the action of God to forgive sins? Is there a heaven, a hell? Is the Bible inherent? When our humblest, most fair-minded, most thorough, most diligent investigation of all the evidences is complete, it would be honest for most people to say these efforts bring me to 80, 90, 99% certainty." [05:30]
"Faith in the New Testament is not the opposite of knowing; it's the opposite of distrusting, rejecting, scorning. In 2 Corinthians 4:14, Paul says we believe and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us up with Jesus. We believe, knowing. Knowing leads to belief. It's not that the absence of knowing requires you to blindly believe." [07:49]
"The Bible intends for Christians to have assurance. Paul describes his ministry like this: I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you that your hearts may reach the full Assurance of the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. He wants full Assurance for his people. Hebrews 6:11, we desire each of you to show the same earnestness to have the full Assurance of Hope to the end." [09:00]
"The New Testament describes the closing of the last 1% as the supernatural shining in our hearts of a Divine spiritual light through the gospel. 2 Corinthians 4:6, God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It describes it as the witness of God's spirit himself. Romans 8:16, the spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." [10:15]
"The point is not that every doctrinal question has the same level of importance or is granted the same fullness of assurance. The point is that God wants his children to be fully assured that he's real, Christ is real, salvation is real, and we are really saved and really destined for Glory. And the way this relates to doctrinal questions that may not rise to the same level of certainty is that the profound experience of god-given spiritual sight and confidence and joy concerning the central reality of our Salvation will enable us to peacefully, joyfully leave in God's hands all the unanswered questions that remain." [11:31]
"Suffering comes in so many different forms in God's word, and our glorious savior is relevant to each and every one of those situations. And I think you can see that bear out over the 12 years or so we've been doing this podcast. I am Tony Ranky, Pastor John, and I will see you on Thursday. Thanks for listening." [12:45]
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