Something God really wants His children to know

CHAPTER 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and of Salvation
(Parts One through Three)

There has never been a shortage of people who have believed they are saved, but are not. Jesus warned that on Judgment Day “Many will come to Me and say, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not…’” to which He will respond, “Depart from Me… I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:22-23) Those must be the worst words to hear on Judgment Day, especially if one truly believed he was a Christian. How do we account for this?

Human beings are terminally religious. Look at how many religions there are. One of them is Christianity, and Christianity is often a default for those who were born and raised in a time and place where Christianity has a major influence. So many assume they are Christians because of their nationality or culture. Many of these (and others) enjoy the outward benefits of Christianity, especially in a place in which the faith is socially acceptable. Add to that the fact that most Christians, while by no means perfect, are decent folks, and often civil, if not kind. That is attractive. The Church provides a place and people with whom others can enjoy healthy social interaction. The Church is generally very pro family. That is attractive. Others like Christianity because believers often tend to be conservative morally, economically, and politically. That too is attractive to others who are by no means Christian.

So there are many who are attracted to and embrace Christianity for all of the outward trappings, but who have little or no use for Christ.

(Part Two)

There are four kinds of people when it comes to assurance regarding the Christian faith.

There are those who are saved and know it. This is by far the best category to be in, for what I hope are obvious reasons. They are saved and they have joy knowing they are saved.
There are those who are saved but they are not sure they are saved. These have the benefit of salvation, but lack the joy that one possesses when one is confident of their standing with God.
There are those who are not saved and know they are not saved. They are not saved (which is not good) but at least they know it, so they might one day respond to the gospel.
There are those who are not saved and are “sure” they are saved. These are of all people in the worst possible position. They are not saved and have the wrath of God in their future, but since they believe they are saved, they have no reason whatsoever to respond to the gospel message. They think they already have.

God wants you to be saved. Acknowledge your sin, trust solely in Jesus as the only way to be forgiven. And God wants those who are saved to know they are His!

(Part Three)

Why does God want His people to posses assurance of salvation? (1 John 5:11-13) Because He is a Father. And not only a good father, but the best Father! What kind of a father wants his children to wonder who their father is? What kind of a father has children and keeps his identity, as their father, a secret from them? I’ll tell you: a really bad father.

Friends, God is a good Father. He wants His children to know that He is their Father. He wants His children to enjoy their “sonship” with all the privileges, and responsibilities. Privileges? How about the fact that the children of God are not born to fear but to love, and are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ? (Romans 8:15-17)

Responsibilities? Yes indeed. As the children of God, our lives are a reflection of our Father—whether a good and accurate reflection given by loving and obedient children, or a bad and misleading reflection given by rebellious children. He wants us to know He is our Father, and we have the responsibility to represent our Father correctly.

Is the doctrine of assurance clearly defined in scripture, or is it arrogance?

CHAPTER 18: Of the assurance of grace and salvation
(Parts Four and Five)

Assurance is routinely communicated wrongly by well-intentioned Christians who tell every person who recites “the sinner’s prayer” that they must have assurance of their salvation because they “prayed the prayer.” Listen, the only assurance a person has, based on the fact that they repeated a prayer, is that they repeated a prayer. That is not the same as assurance of salvation.

While salvation is by God’s grace alone, received through faith alone, the grace and faith that saves is not alone. It is necessarily followed and validated by a changed life (1 John 3:4-10*). Granted, no Christian is sinlessly perfect, either instantly or even after a lifetime of devotion to the Savior; but if there is no fundamental shift in a person’s affections away from self and the world, toward Christ and His kingdom, there is no basis for assurance. “Now by this we know we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3) Again John is not demanding sinless perfection as the standard, because a few verses earlier, speaking to Christians he writes, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Assurance is not for the sinless, but it is for those who find themselves growing in grace and sinning less.

* The sins that reveal that a person is not saved are not isolated acts of sin,
but a continuing life-style of sin.

(Part Five)

The doctrine of assurance of salvation is summed up perfectly in 1 John 5:11-13. It begins by claiming to be a testimony given under apostolic authority. In other words, you can count on it.

What is the testimony? The testimony is that God has given believers eternal life. Eternal life is in the Son, Jesus Christ. Those who have Christ as their Savior have eternal life. To make it clear that only those who have Christ as their Savior have eternal life, John writes, “he who does not have the Son of God does not have [eternal] life.”

Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John then explains to whom he wrote and why. He wrote these words to believers, and he wrote them so that believers would “know” that we have eternal life. God wants us to know this!

During and after the Reformation in the 1500s, one of the many conflicts between Protestants and the Roman Catholic church was over the doctrine of assurance. Protestants, armed with these verses and others, championed the doctrine of assurance. The Roman church—built largely on keeping her people away from scripture and imprisoned in fear—condemned the doctrine of assurance, declaring it to be arrogance, since they believed and taught “no one can ever know for sure in this life.”

So which is it? Is the doctrine of assurance clearly defined in scripture, or is it arrogance?

You really can't have assurance unless and until...

CHAPTER 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and of Salvation
(Parts Six and Seven)

This doctrine is often wrongly caricaturized by the phrase “once saved always saved.” The literal meaning of that phrase is altogether biblical. When God saves a person, He gives that person eternal life (John 10:27-29). Eternal, not temporary or provisional. God adopts that person as His child (Romans 8:14-17). He does not disown His children. Those He saves are the objects of His affection and nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39). And while opponents of this wonderful biblical doctrine admit that God will not abandon His people, they insist that we can abandon Him.

But doesn’t Romans 8:39 say that “no other created thing” can separate us from the love of God”? Are we not “created things”? Then we cannot separate ourselves from His love either.

The unbiblical understanding of the phrase “once saved always saved,” is that if a person recites some sort of “sinner’s prayer” he is guaranteed entry into Heaven even if he lives like Hell until he dies while he presumes he will go to Heaven. Nothing could be further from the truth. Salvation is not merely a ticket to Heaven. It is a new heart and new affections for the Lord Jesus Christ. Though Christians still sin, we cannot adopt a lifestyle of sin (1 John 3:6) without confession and repentance. Rather, when we sin we experience godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10) leading to confession and repentance.

(Part Seven)

One last point on the subject of the Perseverance of the Saints. While God wants all His children to have assurance of their salvation (1 John 5:11-13), new believers and those walking in disobedience cannot enjoy assurance, as does a seasoned saint who is walking with the Lord and has done so for some time.

Do not be confused. Salvation and assurance of salvation, though related, are two different things. True believers experience doubts from time to time, but the longer we walk with the Lord, the greater the assurance that our faith is lasting and therefore genuine. The longer one walks with the Lord, the fewer and farther between doubts become.

True believers can (and sometimes ought to) lack assurance, since living in sin is no way to enjoy the joy of one’s salvation. But when we have confessed our sins and sought diligently to repent of them, the joy of salvation found in assurance is ours once again.

But even in periods of doubt, the redeemed are no less redeemed, since our salvation was won on the cross by Jesus Christ. Our salvation is not based on our longevity in Christ, on our performance, or on either our confidence or our doubts.

Peter charges believers (2 Peter 1:10) to “make your calling and election sure.” How? By diligently adding to your faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (v.5-7). Only then can a child of God enjoy the fullest joy associated with the assurance of his salvation.

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