How can I be Confident that I am in God’s Will?

 We are tormented by the doubt that we do not know if we have made the right decision and that we are in the will of God. I certainly had been. However, learning more about God has freed me from this doubt.

First of all, He promises to guide us:

• A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24)

He guides us through our understanding:

• Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

If we are going in the wrong direction, He reveals this to us:

• Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. (Philippians 3:15-16) 

However, unconfessed sin will place a barrier between ourselves and God. And what if we fail to perceive His guidance or His voice? No matter! Our God is so great that He is able to lead us infallibly, whether we hear Him or not:

• Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16)

• In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. (Prov. 16:9)

This is beyond our understanding – how it is that we are responsible for our lives, and yet God is even more responsible. Nevertheless, this combination is thoroughly biblical:

• The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. (Proverbs 21:1)

The king is responsible for his freewill choices even as the Lord guides him to do what He has ordained.

This means that our Lord is able to guide His enemies to do just what He wants them to do. (And yet, they are fully responsible!) He certainly did that with the kings He brought against Israel. And if He can do that with pagans, He certainly can guide those who want His guidance. Therefore, we can cast all of our fears and concerns upon Him. He’s got a plan for our lives and will fulfill it:

• For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Even when we make sinful decisions, He is still able to bring good out of them, even though they might bring painful chastening:

• And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

In Him, we are safe and can confidently place our minds on our God:

• “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:33-34)

Entrust your concerns to our Lord!

How can we be Fully Forgiven if Confession of our Sins is always Required?

Clearly, Christ paid for all of our sins on the Cross:

• “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8:12 quoting Jeremiah 31:34)

• By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:14)

• Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

On top of this, our Savior has utterly removed our sins from us:

• Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19) 

If this is so, why then do we still need to confess our sins?

• If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)

• And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:15-16)

Hasn’t our Savior completely eradicated our sins and promised to “remember” them “no more?” Why then the ongoing requirement to confess?

Not only is confession necessary for healing, it is also necessary for forgiveness! But hasn’t forgiveness already been accomplished? If so, why then do we need to continue to confess in order to receive His forgiveness? How can we reconcile these paradoxical teachings?

This seems to be the most biblical answer: God has entirely forgiven us and has irrevocably written our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. However, He must complete the process through the entirety of our lives (Phil. 1:6; Romans 11:29).

Martin Luther affirmed the vital and ongoing role of confession and forgiveness in this process:

• Unless God constantly forgives, we are lost. Thus this petition really means that God does not wish to regard our sins and punish us as we daily deserve but to deal graciously with us, to forgive as he has promised, and thus to grant us a joyful and cheerful conscience so that we may stand before him in prayer.

This agrees with my own experience. When I confess my sins, I know that He has forgiven them and feel unburdened and relieved. But why should this be if He has already resolved my sin problem?

He has resolved it, but He continues to apply His forgiveness as we confess! He will remember our sins “no more” because He is constantly at work applying what He has accomplished at the Cross to our stained lives.

It is also because our Lord is continually at work in our lives that we continue in faith unto salvation. In God’s mind, all of these blessings are done-deals, but they must be worked out, and this includes our participation.

Do we have to continue in faith, repentance, and confession? Yes! We have to remain faithful to the end:

·           All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22)

·           But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. (Col. 1:22-23)

·           We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. (Hebrews 3:14)

Some reject this simple and direct teaching because it seems like it adds to us a work or requirement, which contradicts salvation-as-a-gift and will enable us to boast. However, continuing in faith, repentance, and confession is part of the guaranteed gift of God. The gift of faith is an ever-flowing fountain bringing us to eternal life (John 4:14; 1 Peter 1:5). However, even though salvation is a gift, we too have our role to play:

• Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Paul claimed that even though salvation is God’s doing, it is also ours. However, God gets the credit for even our obedience:

• But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Paul credited God for even his strenuous labors. Why? Weren’t these labors a matter of Paul’s initiative and effort? Yes and no! They did represent Paul’s efforts, but Paul recognized that God was even responsible for His efforts and initiative. So He gets all the credit.

Do we understand this? I don’t! We have a fancy theological name we attach to it. We call this the doctrine of compatibilism. Somehow, our contributions are compatible with God’s plan and sovereign workings in our lives. How???

Although I don’t understand this, the compatibility of God’s sovereignty with our responsibilities is mirrored throughout Scripture. For example, we have been saved, but we are being saved as we cooperate with God (Hebrews 4:11; 6:10-11; 1 Tim. 4:16). This paradox is something we just need to accept. We make responsible, free, and weighty choices, but at the end of the day, God’s will is done.

Let’s now apply all of this to the issue at hand – confession and forgiveness. Must we confess our sins? Definitely! Nevertheless, our forgiveness is assured (Jeremiah 31:34)! How? God has assured it:

• No one who is born of God will continue to sin [and also not confess], because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9; 5:18)

Our Savior will not allow us to go in the wrong direction. He will lead us into confession so that He can complete His work of forgiving our sins and cleansing us.

Let’s bring this lesson back to Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness:

• For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14-15) 

Here’s what is clear about this teaching:

1. Our forgiving others is inseparable from God forgiving us.
2. Our refusal to forgive others, God will not forgive us.

Must we forgive others to be saved? Yes! This is related to the issue of whether we must continue in faith. We must! But is our salvation uncertain? No! It is guaranteed by the God who promised to keep us. But how? Our Savior will work in our heart to produce the necessary requirements, including forgiveness (Phil. 2:12-13; Eph. 2:10).

Besides, a living faith will produce obedience. If I trust in my doctor, I will take the pills she prescribes. If I trust in God, I will do what He wants me to do.

We demonstrate our faith through obedience. This is why James could say:

• But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. (James 2:18)

A real faith will lead to obedience and the forgiveness of others. If we refuse to forgive, it means that we refuse to trust our Lord. It also means that we have failed to grasp the Gospel and to realize how badly we need forgiveness.

Scripture informs us that God not only guarantees our salvation but also guarantees that He will keep us through the entire process:

• Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Resolving the Tension between our Freewill and God’s Sovereign Determinations

Here’s the conflict – although the Bible doesn’t mention the word “freewill,” it teaches as if this concept is beyond any dispute. So much of the Bible is about our responsibility to pray, obey, worship, and to study Scripture and the consequences we incur when we fail to fulfill these responsibilities.

However, there are many equally compelling verses that indicate that, through God’s unchanging plan, sovereignty, and oversight over His creation, He exercises even greater control over human events. He brings nations to the exact place He wants them to be to accomplish His purposes. He sets their national boundaries and times of flourishing. Here are just a few verses that we tend to overlook:

• “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” (Acts 17:26)

• The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. (Prov. 21:1)

• Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us. (Isaiah 26:12)

• John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” (John 3:27)

• A man’s steps are of the Lord (Prov. 20:24); The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD. (Psalm 37:23)

• For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)

These verses don’t mean that God causes everything – He certainly isn’t the Author of sin – but it does mean that He ordains everything (Eph. 1:11), either by causing, guiding or allowing things to happen.

Here is one example of how we struggle to combine these concepts of our freewill responsibilities and God’s unchanging plan and providence over our lives.

• If God has really prepared for me the good works I am to do and has promised to direct my steps, I shouldn’t have to look around for a job. Instead, He will provide it. Nor would I even have to pray about this since He has even determined beforehand how my life will play out! (Psalm 139) 

Although we know that this reasoning is faulty - and that we must assume responsibility for our lives and our sins - it is hard to find fault with simply trusting God, if God is truly in control of our lives. But there is really a very “easy” resolution to the conflict between our responsibility (human freewill) and God’s all-embracing, providential and immutable plans. Accept them both! If we trust God, we will do as He says!

This is the Doctrine of Compatibility. It affirms that our freewill responsibilities are somehow compatible with God’s control of His creation. This is one of the truths about our infinite God – like the Trinity – that we finite beings cannot fully rationally understand. However, we believe in these truths because they are so deeply reflected in Scripture.

In fact, we already do believe in Compatibility! We believe that Scripture is fully the product of God – fully God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). Yet we also acknowledge that, to some extent, it is also the word of man.

Paul claimed that his teachings were actually the Word of God:

• And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.(1 Thess. 2:13) 

Nevertheless, Paul’s writings reflect his own humanity, style, focus, experiences, emotions, and choices in many ways. He wrote about friends, enemies, and gave personal greetings. He chose to include certain personal references as freely as I choose to order a slice with pepperoni instead of mushrooms. (I cannot doubt my free choice without also doubting everything I think and understand. Such skepticism undermines all thought.)

However, I suspect that Paul, as he taught and wrote, always prayed that God would guide his choices, thereby acknowledging that he freely made choices as God directed him – Compatibility!

You will probably respond, “That just doesn’t make any sense. These two concepts cannot be compatible.” However, Scripture consistently regards human responsibility as compatible with God’s providential control. Paul put these two concepts together this way:

• Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:12-13)

While we have the responsibility to work out our salvation, this is because our Lord is at work within us to give us the right desires and thoughts, to convict us of sin and to illuminate Scripture. Therefore, even if we have labored mightily to understand His Word, He gets all the credit: 

• But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Cor. 15:10)

Paul even credited God with his hard labors and everything good that he had accomplished. Paul believed in Compatibility! After “many days” at sea on route to Rome in the midst of a great storm, the sailors lost hope of survival. Paul informed them of the revelation he had received from his God: “There will be no loss of life among you, only the ship” (Acts. 27:22).

Coming from God, this prophecy was written in stone, but:

• Paul [subsequently] said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these [sailors] men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” (Acts 27:31)

This revelation seems to conflict with Paul’s first revelation that absolutely no life would be lost, period! However, God’s providential outcome and Word are somehow compatible with intermediate human choices to accomplish this outcome. Rather than cancelling out our will, our thinking, or our actions, our God is somehow able to work through these human means to accomplish His infallible purposes, as He had done through the writing of Scripture.

Admittedly, we cannot get our minds around Compatibility, but we mustn’t reject it for this reason. To reject it is to reject our very faith.