Assurance of Salvation
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Speak about the end of month worksheets: the prayer request were very touching. Reminds me that you are real people with real problems. Many asked for prayer about school, grades, and others asked prayer for family members.
One of the questions asked was along these lines: “How can I know that I am saved?”
“Don’t tell me Someone as big as God moved in your heart and you won’t be sure of it!”
I followed up with the person who asked just to make sur eI understood. The question is not, “How can I be saved?” The question is “How can I be sure that I am saved right now?”
“If you’re 99% sure that you are saved, then you are 100% lost!”
The usual phrase for a question like this is called “Assurance of Salvation.”
“If you can’t tell me when you were saved, then I can tell you that you never were!”
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Let me say from the outset, God wants us to be saved, to know we are saved, and to rejoice in the salvation which he has given to us.
“If you aren’t sure that you’re saved, then you need to ask Jesus into your heart again ‘just to be sure.’”
But, I know that this question isn’t only on the minds of teenagers. This sheet was filled out on the last Wednesday night of August. Just this week, I spoke with an adult about the very same thing. And I think I can say every time I have spoken on this topic, people of all ages have told me afterwards that the lesson has helped them.
There are some people who seem to never struggle with the assurance of their state and standing before God. From the moment of conversion on, they have a confidence that never wavers (or they are simply not being fully truthful). People of all ages, all upbringings, and all church backgrounds often wonder if their salvation is genuine. Have they TRULY been born again? And it is not just a question in recent times.
The first example is some one you may remember: Dr. Crisler. He spoke at the Snelgrove’s Bible study in 2018, and he spoke at our youth group on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. That night, he shared about Martin Luther and I’m sure mentioned something along the lines of his doubts. And, Dr Crisler himself has had times of doubt in his Christian life.
Back in time to another example: someone I have been helped by
Show picture and ask if anyone recognizes the person
One of the greatest pastor theologians (some would say THE greatest) in this history of our continent.
But when he was younger, even he had times of doubt like some of us do.
Show younger JE picture
As I began studying his life, and learning about the major well known themes, one of the single most helpful things I came across was his diary. His private personal writing between his soul and God. And on the first page, the very first entry he said this:
[[Dec. 18, [1722]. This day made the 35th Resolution. The reason why I, in the least, question my interest in God’s love and favor, is
He then gives four reasons why he wonders/questions if he truly has experienced God’s love in his life. And the reason I am sharing this with you is not so that I can talk about Jonathan Edwards. It is because I have found that the struggles of Christians are not limited to only their own times. The world and the devil has attacked God’s people in many of the same ways for thousands of years.
JE wrote 4 things that sound similar to some of the same things I have heard people mention in our day:
1. Because I cannot speak so fully to my experience of that preparatory work, of which divines speak;
2. I do not remember that I experienced regeneration, exactly in those steps, in which divines say it is generally wrought;
3. I do not feel the Christian graces sensibly enough, particularly faith. I fear they are only such hypocritical outside affections, which wicked men may feel, as well as others. They do not seem to be sufficiently inward, full, sincere, entire and hearty. They do not seem so substantial, and so wrought into my very nature, as I could wish.
4. Because I am sometimes guilty of sins of omission and commission.
Well, not only do I want to share JE’s 4 causes of doubt with you, I’d like for you to listen a little more as I tell you 4 things I think also affect the assurance of God’s people today (which probably would have been less common in JE’s day):
1. An unhealthy/unsteady intake of God’s word
1. An unhealthy/unsteady intake of God’s word
Football: the WSJ in 2010 calculated that the average NFL football game, which lasts officially 60 minutes according to the game clock, included 20 TV breaks, 100 commercials, 17 minutes of replay, 75 minutes of people not playing, and an grand total of 11 minutes of actual playing football.
Parallel with that, we live in a day when it is possible to go to church, be there for an hour or maybe even more, and hear testimonies, music, prayers, sermons, announcements, but very little of God’s actual words.
It is evident in Scripture that the biblical documents were written to be read aloud, often in public worship (see ; ; ; ).
Why is the word so important to the topic of assuarance?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The word of God brings faith, and it is used to give us a new birth.
1pet1
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
2. An emphasis on personal testimonies
2. An emphasis on personal testimonies
In my office I have some books from a man named John Owen, a chaplain for Oliver Cromwell in the 1600s. My John Owen set takes up 24 volumes–about 14,000 pages. Now, I have not read them all by a long shot, but I have heard others say that in that entire set, the only thing personal that John Owen wrote was one time he mentioned his father in a sentence. His wife died. All of his kids die. He is a military chaplain. And he only makes one personal remark in the entire 14,000 pages. Compare that to today.
We like to talk, and we like to hear ourself talk. We like to be the center of attention. And even if the motives are more pure and have good intentions, personal testimonies can potentially have a negative side-effect.
They can cause people still growing and maturing (all of us) to compare our testimony to others and we feel like our story is not as exciting, or dramatic, or amazing, or attention getting, and we can begin to doubt the genuineness of the work that God has done in our life. The person speaking may mean well, but how often are we prone to elaborate, even the slightest little bit, when all eyes are on us. And a slight exaggeration in the pulpit may grow into an avalanche in the pew.
There is no dull or boring testimony. If Jesus saved you from a life of heart-ache, headaches, and terror, then praise the Lord. But, if Jesus saved you in the midst of a normal life then there is no shame in that at all. It reminds me of one of my favorite songs:
Story number three, we'll call her Cece
Raised in Maryland, not far from D.C.
She's got a lot to cherish, thanks God she's not embarrassed
About her parents because they had a rock solid marriage
Father straight loved her, gave like no other
Raised with her brother by a stay at home mother
Her life always had the true God in the mix
Because her parents understood
She was raised in the fear of the Lord
Amazing grace appeared and she was saved at the mere age of four
A true clear conviction, the old is replaced
She's a fruit-bearing Christian who's growing in grace
The congregation is waiting for the next reply
Preacher said, "Sis stand up and testify"
Cece said, "I ain't got no horror story
God saved me in my youth I give Him all the glory!"
And one thing that almost always happens in a personal testimony is someone tells a crystal clear moment of when they think they passed from death to life, down to the year, month, day, hour, minutes, (and even precise location).
3. Attempting to precisely pinpoint the time of conversion
3. Attempting to precisely pinpoint the time of conversion
I remember a teacher and a discussion when I was in Bible college in Greenville. Somehow the topic was something like is someone saved when the pray, or believe, or walk down an aisle, etc. The teacher said that he thought that a person was saved when they leave their seat/pew.
Can you tell me the exact moment you were born, the exact place, all of the circumstances around when life began? Some can, but many cannot. What if someone is so unclear on those things does that make them less of a person? Of course not. The evidence of life is not a live birth in the past, but a living person in the present.
When did you asks Jesus to saved you? What if you’ve asked Jesus to save you more than one time? What if you were saved really young and you do not remember all of the details (Barnabas’s dad John Piper).
Before I show you some verses let me make it clear, I do not think you are saved before you are born, you are not saved when you are born, and you better not expect to float through life, hope you might or might not be saved but it doenst really matter, and still be forgiven of your sin and spend eternity with God. But what is important, what is vital in our testimony–what Jesus did for us.
Romans
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
It is clear in these verses: our salvation rests on what Jesus did for us. He did all the work. He gets all the glory. That brings us to...
4. An unbalanced, man-centered theology of salvation
4. An unbalanced, man-centered theology of salvation
Walk an aisle, pray a prayer, repeat a prayer, sign a card, raise your hand, hold arms with the person next to you, give your life to God, let God work in your life, asks Jesus to come into your heart, get baptized, join the church, turn your life around.
You say “Tony, if those phrases can do more harm than good, what should we tell people?”
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
What should we talk about? THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!
If we put our eyes on ourselves, no wonder we doubt if we are truly saved? But we are to put the emphasis on what Jesus has done for sinners.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
THEREFORE...
THEREFORE...
Are you truly saved?
Is there a specific sin you cherish instead of Christ?
Are you regularly taking in God’s word?
Are you inspecting yourself more than being in awe of the Savior, Jesus Christ?
“For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.”
Robert Murray McCheyne (1813–1843)
