Pursuing Assurance and It's Products

This infallible assurance is not such an essential part of faith that it is always fully experienced alongside faith but true believers may wait a long time and struggle with many difficulties before obtaining it. Yet with the enabling of the Spirit to know the things freely given to them by God, they may attain this assurance using ordinary means appropriately without any extraordinary revelation.

Therefore, it is the duty of all to be as diligent as possible to make their calling and election sure. In this way their hearts may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience. These effects are the natural fruits of this assurance. Thus, it does not at all encourage believers to be negligent.

Dive Deeper into the Gospel

2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Listen to Matt Smethurst’s review of Jared Wilson’s book,  Gospel Deeps: Reveling in the Excellencies of Jesus:

Jared Wilson observes that “we evangelicals love the gospel for the few of its uses we’re aware of, [but] we end up missing its depths.” It’s like we’re happy to waterski but not to scuba dive. In the end, we shortchange our souls, never pausing to ponder what enthralling vistas might await us beneath the surface. As Wilson writes, “The further into Christ’s work we press, the more of our vision and the more of our heart it fills. . . . There is no way for us to wear it out.”

I think that this small paragraph explores a lot of the problem with many believers in the Church today, namely that we have grown bored with the art, or duty, of digging deep into the Gospel. However, the confession, and ultimately the Bible, teach us that the only way that we are saved by and the primary way we find assurance, is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, if we are wanting to find assurance of our salvation, the primary root that will feed that beautiful flower is by diving deeper into our understanding of the Gospel.

That looks like praying before you read your Bible that God would show you how precious and merciful Jesus is. It looks like striving to learn more about what Jesus accomplished for us and how His obedience and death atoned for our sins. It looks like taking time to think about all the promises that are now yours because you belong to Jesus. It looks like asking questions about things you don’t understand and becoming a dedicated, life-long student to understanding the most glorious truth ever told and understanding that you’ll never get to the bottom of it all, but the deeper in you dive, the more you’ll see the depths of sovereign grace that you’ve been swimming in and the more it’ll get into your heart and change your life to be more like Him.

Develop Your Prayer Life

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV

17 pray without ceasing,

RC Sproul once said, "If Christ could make a complaint, it would be, 'My bride never talks to me'” Prayer is the lifeline of the believer where his soul is invited to cry out to God for strength and assurance of His promises. However, I believe most believers, if they were honest, would agree that their prayerlife is no where near where it ought to be. In a world filled with noise, where social media literally makes money off of claiming your attention, we desperately need to pursue quiet. Listen to these verses:

“In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15). “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). Christ, speaking to his exhausted disciples, said, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while” (Mark 6:31); and on the night of his betrayal he commanded them, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).

These verses undeniably reveal to us the necessity of us finding a time of silent, meditative prayer where we cry out to God and consider His Word. Thus, if we want to find our hearts full of assurance, we must fill our eyes with His word and our mouths with prayers built on top of His promises.

Devote Yourself to the Church

Hebrews 3:12–13 NKJV

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 10:23–25 NKJV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

In the book of Hebrews, we are confronted with the regular warning of not turning away from our profession of faith. And it was with that in mind that the writer gives us these two encouragements by telling us that it is imperative that Christians spend time together, worship together, and invest in each other for the sake of their souls. It is in this community where our faults are exposed and we are encouraged to rely on Christ and to fight against our sin with a renewed zeal and it is in those circumstances where we find encouragement as we are reminded that we have others praying for us.

John Gill once wrote that forsaking the assembly of the saints is the first step towards apostasy. And I agree with him completely and would add that finding oneself regularly with the saints is a major step in a life full of assurance and growth.

Declare War on Sin

In Romans 13:14 we read,

Romans 13:14 NKJV

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

One of the ways that Jesus told us that we can make no provision for the flesh is by declaring all out war against it. Matthew 5:29

Matthew 5:29 NKJV

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Here Jesus isn’t literally telling us to mutilate our bodies, but is using extremely graphic language to communicate how ruthless we need to be with sin in our lives. When Cain murdered Abel, God told Cain that sin was crouching and ready to consume him, and it did! And when we find ourselves walking through our daily lives, there is sin lurking all around us ready to pounce and lead us astray so we must be always vigilant to fight against it.

One way that we can be aware of the sins which are in our lives is by prayerfully examining our hearts and lives, by speaking with a trusted believer, or reading texts such as the fruits of the flesh and the Spirit in Galatians. As we do this, we should be praying for the Spirit to reveal these sinful tendencies in our lives so that we can consciously fight against them.

In Ephesians 4:30 we read,

Ephesians 4:30 NKJV

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Well, if the Holy Spirit is the one who gives assurance to us, and if we have unrepentant sin in our life which grieves Him and keeps Him at arms length from us, then how can we say that we are really chasing after assurance? Now, this isn’t saying that you need to be absolutely sinless to ever have assurance. What I am saying is that we need to be actively fighting against sin with the Spirit’s power and seeking to be in relationship/communion with Him as we pursue assurance.

The Products of Assurance

Peace and Joy in the Spirit

Romans 14:17 NKJV

17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I don’t know that there’s anything that turns an unbeliever away from the faith quite as much as believers who behave like their puppy just got ran over all the time. Why in the world would a lost and dying world, which is already miserable, want whatever it is that we have when we walk around like we’re the most miserable bunch in the world? That’s simply not the condition of those who walk with assurance. In Romans 14:17 we find that when the Spirit ministers assurance in our hearts, we find ourselves full of peace and joy in the Spirit. This definitely doesn’t mean you’ll always be happy or always smiling, but it does mean that your peace and joy are rooted in something greater and more unshakable than whatever is happening to you here and now which is greater than the world could ever express. This kind of assurance can look hardships in the face and even though tears may be rolling down your face, your soul can rejoice knowing that there is something greater that awaits you as a child of God.

Love and Thanksgiving to God

Romans 5:2,5

Romans 5:2 NKJV

2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:5 NKJV

5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Furthermore, the assured believer is able to enjoy a rich and heart-felt worship. One of my favorite liturgies that some other churches practice is called “The Assurance of Pardon” where the minister leads the church through a time of confession of sin and then shares a passage on the Gospel assuring believers that in Christ they are forgiven and in Christ they are now free to worship the Lord. Well, when the Spirit gives us assurance that we are truly forgiven and right with God, how could our hearts not want to burst at the seams with praise?

Strength and Cheerfulness in Obedience

Psalm 119:32 NKJV

32 I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.

Finally, when we enjoy this kind of assurance, our hearts will be encouraged to obey the Lord. His yoke is easy and His burden is light and His law is beautiful. When we enjoy His assurance, we are enabled to run with hearts that are strengthened with assurance and excited to serve it’s Lord.