Assurance Of Salvation Part 4

I agree in theory that one must rest on the promises of God! We are fruit inspectors, but not of each other's fruit, but of our own--only we know if we are experiencing the joy of the Lord, etc. R. C. Sproul says that we "must search our OWN hearts." If we have come to a true love of the Lord, it is added assurance, because this is impossible without saving faith. (Cf. 1 Pet. 1:2-10)

 Assurance can be intermittent and immediate assurance is not of the essence but of the well-being of our faith according to The Westminster Confession (ca. 1646). The Christian that says he knows he is saved because he feels it in his heart will be silenced when one of another religion can duplicate his feelings if they are not based on objective historical fact and the Word of God. Without the historical fact of the resurrection, all the feelings in the world would be useless and meaningless and in vain.

The best way to be sure is to have faith in God's Word--holding Him to His promises as the Supreme Promise Keeper: 1 John 5:13, John 1:12, Rom. 10:9-10, et alia. But note well that our faith is not perfect but God only requires UNFEIGNED faith, we are not to be hypocrites but to be sincere and honest with God.

The doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints as the Reformed theology calls it or better known as "eternal security" should be called the doctrine of the "Preservation of the Saints" according to R. C. Sproul because it is really God's keeping power and not our ability. If our salvation depended upon us we would blow it. God does make us responsible for "Keep [yourselves] in the love of God."

Two verses that might be problematic are Mat. 24:13 and James 5:11 which say, "He that endures to the end shall be saved." and "Blessed is he who endures." These can be seen as "provisos" or requirements, but also as promises! I believe that we can fall, but not ultimately, we can fail the Lord, but not ultimately. We can even embrace heresy, but God will rescue us in the end. God will never lead us beyond that we are able, so there is to be no fear that we will be burned at the stake and lose our faith. We can backslide, but we will not despair. As far away from the Lord that I have gone, but God never gave up on me, even though I couldn't believe how far I had gone after I had come back to him.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Assurance Of Salvation Part 3

I hope you see the IRONY in my claiming (in a humble manner) that I am an expert on the subject of salvation assurance. I have studied it for a very long time, but it is my experience that I have learned the lessons through the school of hard knocks. No one really wants to be an expert on this subject, because it is embarrassing that one has struggled in this area. Why do we feel ashamed of our doubts? Doubt is an element of faith, not the opposite of it. I believe, help thou mine unbelief it says, right? \

What I have found out is that without the doctrine of eternal security there is no assurance, and that is why Catholics deny it, even present assurance of salvation. Lutherans are split, some thinking that if you lose your faith, you can lose it, but Martin Luther believed in the security of the believer like Calvin. The point is, is that we won't lose our faith. We can fall, but not absolutely.

There is no experience that you can claim that means your "in." God doesn't want you to base your assurance on experience (re attestation, e.g., tongues)--I don't care if you have prophesied in Christ's name, or have cast out demons.  One must have faith in Christ alone for one's salvation, not in experiences, Like Christ said that he is blessed who believes and hasn't seen, so is he blessed who haven't had experiences of wonderment or awe. I am not trying to brag of my knowledge per se, but this is one area where I really believe I have a grip on and a solid take.

God wants us to be sure and the apostle John says in 1 John 5:13 that he wrote the letter that they might "know." Michael Faraday, the great scientist, was asked on his death bed what his speculations were now. He said, "I don't have any speculations, I have certainties!" "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:9).   Tongues isn't the only attestation experience (cf. Rom. 8:16).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Assurance Of Salvation Part 2

I am sort of an expert on this subject and would like to share some lessons I've learned in my spiritual journey.

Assurance is not presumption as the Catholics would have you believe, for Augustine said it was faith, even though Catholics say you must have a divine revelation to the effect to be sure of one's numbering in the elect; otherwise one is sinning unto presumption. There are four possibilities of assurance (according to R. C. Sproul): One can be sure of salvation and not be saved; one can be unsaved and know it; one can be saved and know it, or one can be saved and not know it. Assurance doesn't belong to the essence of faith (according to The Westminster Confession).

Some people have syllogistic (a major premise, followed by a minor premise, leading to a conclusion) assurance (As John MacArthur would say.): All Americans are saved, I am an American, ergo I am saved! They can be very ridiculous and there are many people talking about Heaven that are not going there, as the spiritual says. This is the phenomenon of false assurance.

True assurance comes from tried and proven faith through trials and tribulations and tests. One may or may not have an emotional reaction at salvation, but one shouldn't cling to the memory of some experience in the past as assurance, but only to present obedience and fruit. "Only he who is obedient believes, and only he believes who is obedient," said Dietrich Bonhoeffer. (Obedience is the true test of faith--Abraham obeyed God.) God is not impressed with feelings but with faith. A relationship based on feelings is shallow. The person that says he knows he is saved because of a warm feeling will be silenced when someone of another religion can duplicate his experience. One must base his assurance on the Word of God and stand on His promises and take God at His Word.

Assurance is commanded and enhances our sanctification and if one is or a backslider his assurance may be taken away. "Be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure ..." (2 Pet. 1:10). "Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith, test yourselves..." (2 Cor. 13:5 cf. 1 Cor. 11:28).

We are guaranteed by God to endure to the end and not to lose our faith. Hab. 3:18 says that "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord" through the crops fail, etc. Only when one loses the Lord has he lost all, and a Christian cannot lose the Lord. However, it is a synergistic effort or you could say we persevere as God preserves.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Assurance Of Salvation Part 1

My area of expertise seems to be the assurance of salvation since I have backslid so many times and have had to repent and do the first things over and go back to square one so to speak ("I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely"). Sometimes I have compared myself to other Christians and have been discouraged, e.g. when they say they hear God's voice audibly and I don't, I think something is wrong. It is not just a matter of curiosity, but for our well-being. 

We are commanded to seek assurance: "Let us draw near to God with full assurance of faith;" "Be diligent to make your calling and election sure..."  "Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith, test yourselves...." It seems like I have been saved many times, which I know is not biblical. I have a tendency to compare myself with others and wonder if I should be experiencing the same thing e.g., hearing audible voices from God.

I know the best assurance is that which comes from a holy and obedient life per Is. 32:17, which says, "The fruit of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance." Chuck Swindoll adds that only obedient Christians can have assurance. Disobedience and consequent chastisement take away one's feeling of the joy of salvation and one may doubt his position in Christ.

Remember: David prayed for the "joy" of his salvation to be returned in Psa. 51:12, not his salvation (after Nathan had told him of his sin and he repented).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Is Assurance Automatic?

Assurance belongs to the well-being of faith, but not to the being of faith (the bene esse, not the esse). It is not an automatic fruit, but, like all fruit, must be grown. Obedience and sanctification bring about the testimony of the Spirit within. Now, when I am talking of assurance, I am not talking about objective assurance or the knowledge that Christ died and rose again according to Scripture, but the subjective reality that it applies to you personally--like maybe you wonder if you have repented enough, etc. 

The church of Rome has a pernicious doctrine that denies any assurance or ultimate security, except by divine revelation to that effect. The Canons of Dort (ca. 1618) condemned this position. They affirmed that it arises from good works, a good conscience, measure of faith (it can be intermittent or in degree), and from the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit ("The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God").

Christians can struggle with assurance and have carnal doubts, but usually, this is in the state of backsliding and maybe God's way of warning him. Martin Luther called this attack the "Anfectung" of Satan, whereby he wants to take away our security in Christ. The Westminster Confession asserts that infallible assurance does not belong to the essence of salvation. 

We can feel abandoned by God, but we aren't, for He has promised us he "will never leave us nor forsake us." Sproul says we do not have to know we are saved to be saved, and I agree from personal experience. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints (which really means God preserves as we persevere) affirms not only our present security but also our continuity in the state of grace and in the end we will not fall from it.

In sum, we are exhorted to "make our calling and election sure," and it a tremendous benefit or boon to our well-being to have this knowledge which leads to higher levels of sanctification.  Remember, it's not an automatic fruit, and we can be saved without assurance, but the more pressing concern is those who have false assurance and think they are saved when not.  Soli Deo Gloria!

My Assurance

My area of expertise seems to be the assurance of salvation since I have backslid so many times and have had to repent and do the first things over and go back to square one so to speak. Sometimes I have compared myself to other Christians and have been discouraged, e.g., when they say they hear God's voice audibly and I don't, I think something is wrong. The existence of the written Word of God doesn't preclude audible revelations or voices today.   But I have learned to believe in the Word of God itself.   The Bible doesn't preclude the possibility of God's audible voice today.   My favorite slogan vis-a-vis assurance:  God said it in His Word, I believe it in my heart, that settles it in my mind.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Empirical Assurance

My doctrinal area of expertise and domain and what seems to be my element seems to be the assurance of salvation, since I have backslid so many times and have had to repent and do the first things over, and it seems like I have been saved many times, which I know is unbiblical. I have a tendency to compare myself with others and wonder if I should be experiencing the same thing: like hearing audible voices from God.

I know the best assurance is that which comes from a holy and obedient life per Isaiah 32:17 which says, "the fruit of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance." Disobedience and consequent chastisement take away one's feeling of the joy of salvation and one may doubt his position in Christ.  In the Golden Chain of Redemption (Rom. 8:29-30), no one is lost in the shuffle!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Distinguishing Works In Salvation

The best Scripture I've seen for the proof of eternal security is Rom. 8:30 which says that none will be lost--all who are foreknown will be justified. Without eternal security, there is no assurance of salvation, (the two can be distinguished but not separated) like the Romanists maintain.

If our salvation depends on our works we might blow it in the end--how do we know that we will endure to the end to be saved? The Bible always speaks of eternal life as something we have now, not after we die. If it is eternal it cannot be interrupted or lost. In a works religion you just never know how much is enough or how little is too little to lose it. Jesus said all manner of sin can be forgiven except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, so what sin do they think cannot be forgiven--Jesus makes intercession for us when we sin (Heb.7:25; 1 John 2:2).  Your only way to have full assurance is to for salvation to depend on God and to be of grace alone!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Blessed Assurance!

"... Do not be unbelieving, but believing" (cf. John 20:27).
"For the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God" (cf. Rom. 8:16).
"For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (cf. 2 Tim. 1:12).
"... [B]e all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10, ESV).

The title is taken from Fanny Crosby's hymn.  We don't find out we're saved because we're curious, but because we are commanded to do so in 2 Pet. 1:10, but it's not an automatic fruit of salvation, even if one's faith is alive and growing--for dead faith or faith minus works doesn't save (cf. James 2:20), and we are commanded o examine ourselves as to whether Christ is in us on a regular basis to reassure ourselves. (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5).  It is not the preacher's duty or job description (nor any authority figure's for that matter) to give assurance of salvation--they can only reassure, but one must trust in the Word as a conviction and join it to the assurance of the Holy Spirit as dual assurance.

We must learn the lesson to take God at His Word, once the initial highs and feelings have left us (when normalcy sets in) and the feelings of our initial response to salvation when God is testing the validity and reality of our faith, which is more precious than gold and silver and must be confirmed by fire.  If we don't have any assurance, we will be paralyzed in our walk and stunted in growth, not able to walk forward with Christ in faith, but treading water and going backward even.  This assurance is meant to enhance our sanctification and to be a boon to our experience in Christ.

R. C. Sproul says that to gain authentic assurance we must "search our own hearts and examine the fruit of our faith."  And also that "the Word of God coupled with the testimony of the Holy Spirit" is God's normative methodology of assurance.  When we are fully assured we will never succumb to doubt, having on our helmet of salvation, because it will be a done deal and we can overcome the Anfectung (Luther's German for attack) of Satan.  Let's be leery of being like those who waver in the faith and are rebuked and chided by Jesus, "Oh you of little faith!"

Note that no one has to have perfect assurance nor perfect faith in this life to get saved, or it wouldn't be called faith but knowledge.  If someone says he has no doubts, he's never been tested in his faith or doesn't know himself well, for faith is not the same as knowledge of which we will inherit in glory.  NB:  you will never have "smoking gun" evidence that you can be as assured as you see the sunshine in the sky, for we are commanded to walk by faith and not by sight in 2 Cor. 5:7.  You don't need all the answers to believe or make a decision for Christ!

We are to "taste and see that the LORD is good," so that we can existentially and empirically know God by the experience of the spiritual world by faith. One of God's chief complaints and pet peeve is that man doesn't have the "knowledge of God" (cf. Hos. 4:1).  Later cf. Hosea 6:3 which says to let us know, let us go on to know the LORD.  We can sincerely pray for God to increase our faith, and God does commend strong faith, but it isn't the amount of faith that saves, but the object (faith doesn't save, Christ does, or it is fideism, faith in faith).   There are degrees of certitude and the faith/doubt continuum varies throughout one's spiritual journey.

Many preachers dichotomize salvation's security from its assurance in the here and now--these must never be divorced for they are two sides of the same coin and one cannot exist logically without the other (if you can lose it, how can you ever have full assurance and know you won't slip into sin?).  We say in theology that we can indeed distinguish these doctrines, but cannot separate them--they are two sides of the same coin (the flip side).

Roman Catholics will tell you that assurance is a pure sin of presumption unless you've had a special revelation or experience with God to assure you, but it's not conjecture nor presumption, it's doable and a duty.  It's true, as some may point out, that some leave the faith, but these were never genuine believers in the first place according to John in 1 John 2:19.  Orthodox doctrine says that we persevere in the faith as God preserves us, for if it weren't for grace, none of us would survive spiritually.

The biggest problem in the church regarding this issue is not patient with struggling believers who have doubts, but bearing with those who presume and have false assurance, for assurance must be biblical and based on sound doctrine or dogma.   And so people can be ignorant of Scripture or aren't taking God at His Word--or they may simply be going by feeling. We are accountable for the faith bestowed on us to be faithful to it and grow fruit accordingly (cf. Rom. 12:3), and our faith must not be feigned or hypocritical, but sound and sincere--i.e., albeit not perfect (cf. 1 Tim. 1:5).

In sum, the best assurance is to claim the promises of God as one's spiritual birth certificate, like one of mine in John 6:37 that says, "He who comes to Me I will in no way cast out." FIND YOUR OWN SPIRITUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE OR PASSAGE THAT SPEAKS TO YOUR OWN HEART AND SITUATION.     Soli Deo Gloria!

Are We Friends Of Jesus?

Some Christians imagine that they are "buddies" with the Lord. Paul calls us doulos or servants. John MacArthur says we are not His "sidekicks." What they are is bond-servants as Paul was Jesus will call us "good and faithful servants." Jesus called us all "friends" in the sense that we know His will and what He is doing. "I lay down my life for my friends," and we are His friends if we do what He commands. Doing His will doesn't mean we won't do things not His will!

We cannot be egotistical in thinking we are above other Christians or a "cut above" others because Christianity is egalitarian and we are all one in Christ. There is neither male nor female, etc. If we are not His friends we are His enemies; there is no middle ground. Let's not let it go to our heads that we are all as believers the "friends" of Christ. Saying one is a special buddy of the Lord like Abraham was indeed the "friend of God" is a bit grandiose.

We are only friends if we do His commandments!  He is our friend even when we aren't His.  Christians are never His enemies!  Soli Deo Gloria!