October 12, 2005
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Assurance of Salvation
Ryan Eberst says: “i don’t know if its as much people doubting that Christ finished the work, but more people doubting that Christ has actually chosen them for salvation. i mean if we focus on us, we see no reason for God to choose us to salvation, its a complete act of grace, and sometimes its hard accepting grace. so i don’t think its doubting God as much as doubting us.”
My response:
G’day Ryan,
It seems like you are saying that someone can believe the gospel, but not know whether or not they are a believer. Wow!! I have a question for you. Can someone see the light of the sun, and not know they are in the light?
Think about 2 Corinthians 4:6. “Because it is God who said, “Out of darkness Light shall shine,” who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The Apostle says that ALL believers have the knowledge of Christ in their hearts. And it’s not a coming and going sort of knowledge. It’s PERMANENT certainty of the GOSPEL.
“Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone drinking of this water will thirst again; but whoever may drink of the water which I will give him will not thirst, never! But the water which I will give to him will become a fountain of water in him, springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14).
According to Christ, in this passage, believers NEVER thirst because the Holy Spirit ALWAYS assures them of their salvation.
Ryan, you are trying to make doubting sound like a humble, meek state of mind. You are trying to JOIN TOGETHER what God has ETERNALLY SEPARATED — doubt and salvation. But the sin of unbelief damns (Mk 16:16) !! In a doubter there is no witness of the Holy Spirit in the person — they are unregenerate. Believers, who have the infallible witness of the Spirit to the Word of God, NEVER doubt the gospel, and NEVER doubt their salvation. They do NOT call God a liar in His promises to save ALL believers.
In fact, God has MANIFESTED Himself in the believer’s conscience. They have his AUTHORITY and WITNESS impressed onto their minds.
He that believes God has set to his seal that God is true. John 3:33
He that believes God has the witness in himself. 1 John 5:10
Now, most people try to base their assurance on their WORKS and not God’s Word. The problem with this heresy, is that to do a good work, you need to do it out of THANKS that God has saved you. Let’s take a look at the Lord’s supper, for instance.
Read Luke 22:19-20.
19 And taking a loaf, giving thanks, He broke, and gave to them, saying, This is My body being given for you. This do to My remembrance. 20 And in like manner the cup, after having supped, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is being poured out for you.
you make a good point. very good actually. i was just saying there are times when one will look elswhere, not at Christ, and like peter on the water end up falling. like you said, one cannot base the assurance of his salvation on his work of good. i dunno that you can base the assurance of his condemnation on his works of bad either. since it is about the grace of God and not the works of man then how is it that man can be so easily condemned by his works? is atonement not for all sins? does it not cover the future sins as well as the past? im not trying to argue, but you tend to have interesting takes on things, and usually have a fair amount of Scripture to back your takes up. so im just interested in how one mans works (doubting) who has preciously believed the gospel can seperate him from the love of Christ.
thanks a ton for responding, it really means alot. its really good to hear feedback from ya. and also, thanks for sayin g’day…its just neat.
you make a good point. very good actually. i was just saying there are times when one will look elswhere, not at Christ, and like peter on the water end up falling. like you said, one cannot base the assurance of his salvation on his work of good. i dunno that you can base the assurance of his condemnation on his works of bad either. since it is about the grace of God and not the works of man then how is it that man can be so easily condemned by his works? is atonement not for all sins? does it not cover the future sins as well as the past? im not trying to argue, but you tend to have interesting takes on things, and usually have a fair amount of Scripture to back your takes up. so im just interested in how one mans works (doubting) who has preciously believed the gospel can seperate him from the love of Christ.
thanks a ton for responding, it really means alot. its really good to hear feedback from ya. and also, thanks for sayin g’day…its just neat. love ya, brother.
(im sorry im not sure why that posted twice)
in refernce to that last line. i definately think full assurance is the privilege of every Christian. but i think alot of times Christians do not use their “inheritance” to the fullest extent. i think often Christians settle for less (see the end of romans 7). the New Testiment references several churches that are not doing all that they could. Paul does not condemn all of them, just corrects them.
maybe doubt is the same way. full assurance is avaliable to us (and trust me, i believe that it is), but becuase we are too easily pleased and will settle for the lesser things of this world we end up not partaking in all that has been made avaliable to us. and instead of damnation, we receive correction. i dunno, i mean thats kind of how i have seen it.
ok, hopefully this one will only post once. God bless ya, brother.
doubting is a sin. that is true. but it’s not damnable. after youve been saved, nothing can take you out of Gods hands…
so are you saying that the person was never saved, or that they lose their salvation. Because the latter is impossible.
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