New Believers Bible - Flipbook - Page 93
HOW YOU CAN KNOW GOD
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confess our sin means that we essentially feel the same way God feels about
what we have done. After committing that sin, we will be determined to put
it out of our lives and never do it again. That is true confession in the biblical
sense. The reason many believers are not experiencing the forgiveness and
joy they desire is that they have not yet truly confessed! Once we have met
God’s conditions, however, we will know his gracious forgiveness. We may
not “feel” forgiven, but we are. We have his word on it.
2. God Has Balanced Our Moral and Spiritual Budget (see Romans
5:1-2, page 1009). When God makes us right in his sight, he does so by
placing all of the righteousness of Christ to our credit. This balances the
moral and spiritual budget for us. We now have sufficient “capital of
character” to get on with the business of living.
Up to this point, salvation has been God’s responsibility. From this point on, it
continues to be his responsibility except that we are responsible for the wise investment of our “capital of character”—that is, we are responsible for living as
God desires us to. It is as if your checking account were empty, but then someone made a $100,000 deposit. What you do with that money is up to you.
3. God Calls Us His Children (see Luke 15:11-32, page 922). This incredible
story illustrates what happens when a person turns from sin and returns to
God. First, notice that the father in the story did not give this prodigal son
what he deserved—banishment. In the same way, we do not receive from
God what we deserve—punishment for sin. Second, the young man was given
what he did not deserve—the rights and privileges offull sonship. Likewise,
although we are not worthy to be called children of God, he calls us sons and
daughters. In summary, he doesn’t give us what we deserve (judgment). He
gives us what we don’t deserve (forgiveness and justification).
Speaking of sons and daughters, read on to see how God has adopted you into
his family.
We have looked at what happens when we are
regenerated (when Christ comes into our lives) and
when we are justified (when God forgives our sin and
puts his righteousness in its place). Now let us look at
another incredible thing God has done for us. He has
adopted us into his family as his children!
Adoption means “to be given the rights of a son.” In
