August 20, 2006
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Doubting your salvation? Questions to Ask yourself.
Do I look at my works for evidence that I am saved? Then how can I be sure I have done enough works? Have I loved the brethren enough? Do I really obey God’s Law as I should? Will I not be led into despair by looking at my works – for aren’t all my righteousnesses, filthy rags?
Paul says,
“And the life I now live in the flesh, I live BY FAITH toward the Son of God, the One loving me and giving Himself over on my behalf.”
What kept Paul going? How did he know he was saved? Did he look to his works as the evidence of his salvation? No! He encouraged by HIS FAITH TOWARD THE SON.
The Apostle also said to the Roman believers,
“may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace IN BELIEVING” Rom 15:13
Why did the Romans have peace and joy? How did they know they were saved? What evidence proved to them, they were saved? It was their belief of the truth!! They were to have their peace and joy “IN BELIEVING”. Paul says NOTHING about finding their peace and joy in their good works. He does NOT tell them to look at their works. Instead, they were to find their peace and joy IN BELIEVING, right?
And to the Hebrews, he said,
“”let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance OF FAITH, our hearts having been sprinkled from an evil conscience” Heb 10:22
Why were Hebrews to draw near to God? Was it because they looked at their works? No!!! The reason they knew they were saved was by their BELIEF. They were assured because of their FAITH. And their faith pacified their conscience. When they thought “Am I saved?” Their conscience was “sprinkled”, that is, calmed and purified by their faith! They would have thought, “I believe, so I must be saved”! We are assured and we know we are saved, by OUR FAITH, not our works. Our works prove to OTHERS we are saved, but not to ourselves. After all, we must judge our works by OUR FAITH. And the only reason we love God and obey him out of thanks, is because we already know we are saved!
To the Colossians, Paul says,
“that their hearts may be COMFORTED being joined together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of the UNDERSTANDING to the full knowledge of the mystery of God” Col 2:2
Why were these believers comforted? And what joined them together in love? Were they assured by their works? Did their obedience comfort them? No!! It was their UNDERSTANDING and KNOWLEDGE that proved to them that they were saved. Ask yourself. Why am I comforted? Am I looking at my works? I shouldn’t be!! We can only be comforted by our UNDERSTANDING and KNOWLEDGE!! After all, we obey God out of THANKS and GRATITUDE. And in order to be thankful, we need to already know we are saved, before doing a good work. We love God, because we know we are elect. We draw near to him because we know we are believers. All our good works happen because we know we are saved!
Sadly, if you do not have this assurance, you are NOT a believer.
“but Christ as Son over His house, whose house we are, IF TRULY WE HOLD FAST THE BOLDNESS and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” Hen 3:4
If you are not fully persuaded that you are justified by Christ’s righteousness, Christ is NOT dwelling in you by faith!
“For we have become partakers of Christ, if truly we hold the BEGINNING OF THE ASSURANCE FIRM TO THE END” Heb 3:14
Ask yourself. Have I had apostolic assurance from the BEGINNING of my life as a Christian? If you have doubted your salvation in the past you are NOT a partaker of Christ!
Comments (15)
If you have doubted your salvation, it is probably because you are confused about what faith is.
Ask yourself. Am I holding to the view that faith is MORE than belief? If faith is MORE than belief, can I be sure I have it? Won’t it be impossible for me to know I have faith, if it is more than belief? Will I not despair and doubt my salvation — for if you can believe in your head but not in your heart — can I be sure I don’t just have a “head faith”? And can I be sure I don’t just have an “intellectual faith”?
On the other hand, if we say that faith in Christ is simply to believe Christ’s words, “receive the testimony of God” ( 1 John 5), “abide in the doctrine of Christ” ( 2 John 9), “the conviction of things not seen” ( Heb 11), if we say this, then we will NEVER doubt our salvation.
We will simply reason,
1) All with faith are saved
2) Faith is simply to assent to the Gospel
3) I assent to the gospel (I have faith)
4) Therefore I am saved.
This is the way John reasoned. “We know that the Son of God has come [ i.e. we believe the gospel], and he has given us an understanding, [i.e. faith is understanding], and we are in Him that is true [ i.e. our belief proves to us we are "in Him"], even in His Son.”
Let’s stick with the Scripture. Abraham had faith in God and this is defined as him being “FULLY PERSUADED OF THE PROMISES OF GOD”.
Faith is simply a full persuasion that what God says about Christ is true. John 1:12 says, “those receiving him … believed on his name”. So receiving Christ is simply believing what the Scripture says about Him. Receiving Christ is NOT more than believing the gospel.
Andrew
Andrew,
I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again. You are in error, and you need to stop posting things like this. You are not God, so stop trying to play God. You need to search your own heart and figure out your motivation for writing things like this.
“Ask yourself. Have I had apostolic assurance from the BEGINNING of my life as a Christian? If you have doubted your salvation in the past you are NOT a partaker of Christ!”
you are ridiculous. the way you throw around absolute terms and the way you are so quick to mark people out side of Christ is really disturbing. and you never replied to my comment about 1 john. which of course doesn’t surprise me. but, if you ever do learn how to do exegesis, you should check it out.
G’day Jon,
Thank you for your questions.
The issue at hand in 1 John 3:2 is about a congregation and how people within the congregation prove to each other they are saved. Ask yourself. How can we know we are part of a congregation of believers and NOT a congregation of fakes, pretenders and false professors?
“And by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commands” (1 Jn 3:2)
A man knows he is part of a TRUE congregation — an assembly of believers — when he sees those around him OBEYING the commands of God. He can’t see the hearts of the other believers. It’s impossible for him to see into their mind, and see their faith directly. So the man can only know he is part of a true congregation if those around him are keeping God’s commands.
Imagine an outsider came to a congregation and said “You are a bunch of fakes. You say you believe, but you don’t practice what you preach. Hypocrites!”
The Apostle John would have responded, “No! We know we have known him, [because] we keep his commands.”
Obedience to God is 1) the way believers prove to each other they are saved and 2) the way a congregation proves to outsiders that it is a true congregation, and not made up of hypocrites.
Jon, you also asked about 1 John 5:13
=== I wrote these things to you, the ones believing in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have everlasting life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. ===
Now, obviously the people John was writing to already believed in Christ. So why does John say, “I wrote these things … that you may believe in the name of the Son of God” ? Is John saying that they needed to be converted? Of course not. John wrote to REMIND his readers about Christ whom they already believed in. He wrote so that they would continue to believe in Christ. In the same way, John reminded them that they had everlasting life too.
Please read 1 Peter 1:12, where Peter says, “For this reason I will not neglect to cause you to REMEMBER always concerning these things, though you know and have been confirmed in the present truth.”
Peter and John both wrote to cause their readers to REMEMBER the truths about Christ and how he saved them. In fact, Peter states that his readers already knew they had “been confirmed in the present truth”. “You know and HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED”.
Past tense!
John and Peter wrote to remind their readers of what they already knew.
Andrew
I’ve got something that you might be interested in reading that pertains to this very subject.
hah..is the only point of your xanga just to prove people they are wrong? u can’t jus…write about your day?
Hi Emily!
Your youth group leader (right?) Jim posted some objections to my comments on assurance.
Here is my response!
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G’day Jim!
May I ask, are you Emily’s youth group leader? Anyways, if you are, it sounds like you guys had a lot of fun in Alaska. =)
Now, onto theology! Yesterday, I came across your response to my comments on assurance of salvation.
=== Jim says: James 2 clearly states that faith is more than intellectual assent (the demons know this and tremble). ===
Me: The problem with the demons is that they don’t have the imputed righteousness and blood of Christ. He never died or obeyed the Law for any demons. So none of them can be righteous before God by Christ’s work.
But they believe, right? Yes they do. But believing the gospel doesn’t actually make someone righteous. It just so happens that ALL humans that believe have the imputed righteousness of Christ. The righteousness is what actually credits them righteous before God. Their belief is simply the way they find out they are saved.
So, YES, the demons do believe the gospel and are still condemned. But does that mean a man can believe the gospel and also be condemned. No! There is a HUGE LEAP in reasoning here. Just because believing demons are damned, does not mean that believing men are damned too. That is an assumption on the part of the Calvinist which must be proven.
The fact is that the difference between salvation and damnation is not belief, but lies in obedience. The believer has the perfect obedience of Christ in His account, whereas the demon does not. Furthermore, the believers sins have been blotted out, but the demons have not.
So, how does belief come into play? Well, when a man believes the gospel to be true, it means the man ordained to Eternal Life. And all the Elect will be saved by Christ’s work. Therefore, belief is sufficient evidence to that man’s conscience that He is predestined to life. This is why Philip baptized the eunuch based on His confession that the gospel is true.
Acts 13: 36 And as they were going along the highway they came on some water. And the eunuch said, Behold, water! What prevents me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If you believe from all the heart, it is lawful. And answering he said, I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.
The eunuch believed the gospel, so it was lawful for him to be baptised. Of course, as we are about to see in the Gospels, many demons have said EXACTLY the same proposition as Philip. Now this does not make the eunuch’s confession and faith of none effect. It simply means that when he believed, the belief was evidence to himself of his salvation. On the other hand, belief for demons is not evidence of salvation at all. In fact, the Word they believe in says over and over again — they will be tormented, damned and suffer eternally in the Lake of Fire.
OK, Next objection….
=== Jim says: Matthew 7 and the story of the people that say in that day, “Lord, Lord… look what we did”. They have knowledge, and they call Jesus , “Lord”. And Jesus says to them, “depart from me, I never knew you. ===
Me: Wait a second! The passage says they SAID “Lord, Lord”! It does NOT say they believed or had the knowledge of Christ!
So, yes, there are many false professors. There are fakes, pretenders and hypocrites like the people in Luke 7 (who, by the way, based their evidence of salvation on their works, not their belief!). But these fakes and pretenders do NOT believe. They do NOT intellectually assent to the gospel.
Even the most clever unbeliever is “DECEIVED and deceiving”. When Paul was an unbeliever, he was totally ignorant of the fact that murdering Christians is wrong. “Being IGNORANT I did it in unbelief,” he says. In the days of his enmity it can be rightly said that he was “BLIND leading the blind.” Paul, when he was called Saul, had a zeal for religious things (and he called his idol, “God”) but this was NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE.
Now, there is an interesting connection between the devils and unbelievers. According to the Scriptures, the devils who know the truth go about to continue to keep all unbelievers in the darkness, who they “deceive”. Thus, when the Word speaks of the “doctrines of devils”, it means that unbelievers have been deceived into believing doctrines that have been made-up by the devils. “If our gospel is being hidden, it has been hidden in those being lost, in whom the god of this age has BLINDED the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the brightness of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.” (2 Cor 4:4). “And you being dead in deviations and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now WORKING in the sons of disobedience.” (Eph 2:1-2). “And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent being called devil, and, Satan; he DECEIVING the whole habitable world was cast out onto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev 12:9).
In all the above passages, we read of the the devil DECEIVING unbelievers. Therefore, the gospel has NOT dawned in the hearts of the ignorant.
The unsaved CANNOT intellectually assent to the gospel !!
OK, another objection…
=== Jim says: 1 John was written (1 John 5:13) “to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God.“. If John found it necessary to write a letter to people so that they would have this confidence, then it follows that assurance is not automatic, but must be taught and encouraged. ===
Me: Now, obviously the people John was writing to already believed in Christ. So why does John say, “I wrote these things … that you may believe in the name of the Son of God” ? Is John saying that they needed to be converted? Of course not. John wrote to REMIND his readers about Christ whom they already believed in. He wrote so that they would continue to believe in Christ. In the same way, John reminded them that they had everlasting life too. “I wrote to you ..that you may know you have eternal life”. That is, he wrote to them that they would continue to 1) believe in the Son and 2) know they had eternal life.
Please read 1 Peter 1:12, where Peter says, “For this reason I will not neglect to cause you to REMEMBER always concerning these things, though you know and have been confirmed in the present truth.”
Peter and John both wrote to cause their readers to REMEMBER the truths about Christ and how he saved them. In fact, Peter states that his readers already knew they had “been confirmed in the present truth”. “You know and HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED”.
Past tense!
John and Peter wrote to remind their readers of what they already knew.
Sadly, many Calvinists say that John was directing his readers to look at their works to find out they were saved.
But how can someone even begin to love God if they are ignorant of His love for them?? How can someone cry “Abba, Father”, if they do not know He is their Merciful Father?? And can you even pray “Our Father in heaven”, whilst being ignorant of whether or not you are a child of God??
Let me explain a little further. What motivates me to refrain from sin, is the love of Christ. “The love of Christ constrains us from sin”. And why do I love Christ? “We love Him, because He first loved us.” Now, if I didn’t know that Christ shed His blood for me and obeyed the Law for me, there would be no reason to love Him. This is why in Luke 7 Christ says, “But they not having a thing to pay, he freely forgave… [And the woman] having been pardoned of her many sins, she loves much. But to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loves little.”
Now, follow Christ’s logic through. Obviously someone who is not forgiven at all, will NOT love at all. Clearly, anyone ignorant of their justification cannot love God. Assurance of justification must PRECEDE WORKS and be based on God’s promise to save believers.
===Many of the great saints have questioned in moments of darkness. ===
Really? Where in the Bible is there are single example of a believer doubting their salvation. (By the way, the Psalms are NOT David’s experiences! see http://www.Godnoliar.com/psalms.htm)
All the saints in the Bible had God’s infallible promise to them, and thus could not doubt their salvation. God has declared that “everyone believing in this One IS JUSTIFIED”, “IS born of God”, “HAS everlasting life”, and “will NOT come into Judgment”.
And how can any believer doubt God’s testimony? God can’t lie. He knows everything. He does not change. Indeed, He is the Amen, the Faithful and True. Could I, a mere creature, call in question statements made by the Creator of all things? GOD HIMSELF HAS SPOKEN and TOLD ME by His Word that “By His knowledge shall my Righteous servant justify many … for He shall bear their iniquities.” I have the knowledge, therefore I am justified. I have the witness, and the witness is the voice of God Himself in my conscience. “And they shall HEAR A VOICE COMING BEHIND THEM in the desert…” “My sheep, HEAR MY VOICE…and they shall NEVER follow a stranger… and I am KNOWN BY THEM.”
To sum up: the word tells the devils they will be damned, so it gives them assurance of damnation. On the other hand, the word says all believers will be saved, so it gives them full assurance of salvation.
OK, to finish here are some passages that prove that faith is simply to intellectually assent to the gospel…
“And this is everlasting life, that they may KNOW You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” John 17:3
Q: So everyone that KNOWS Christ has everlasting life?
” The one who HEARS My Word, and BELIEVES the One who has sent Me, has everlasting life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” John 5:24
Q: If somebody hears and believes the words about Christ, they will not come into judgment, will they?
“And we KNOW that the Son of God has come, and He has given to us an UNDERSTANDING that we may know the true One, and we are in the true One, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and the life everlasting.” 1 John 5:20
Q: Life everlasting is to KNOW and UNDERSTAND Christ, right?
“The one RECEIVING HIS TESTIMONY has sealed that God is true.” John 3:33
Q: Everyone that receives God testimony is saved, yes?
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to the ones BELIEVING into His name,” John 1:12
Q: Receiving Christ is simply believing the gospel, right?
“The one ABIDING IN THE DOCTRINE of Christ, this one has the Father and the Son.” 2 John 9
Q: So if a man believes in the doctrines of Christ, he is saved, right?
“And you will KNOW THE TRUTH, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
Q: So everyone that believes the truth is saved?
Andrew Bain
Sydney, Australia
How can there be a congregation of fakes, false professors and Hypocrites if “The unsaved CANNOT intellectually assent to the gospel !!”? You can’t have it both ways.
By the way. Although Abraham believed God (and it was credited to him as righteousness), he still had times when he doubted God and his provisions, and his promises. It is possible to have doubts and still be justified.
Oh and by the way, while David wrote prophetically about the Messiah, he was also speaking out of his own condition. (and just for technical accuracy David was a king and therefore not able to hold the position of prophet biblical characters could, and often do make utterances which prophetically point to Christ. Some of them even lived out roles which prophetically pointed to Christ. That doesn’t make them a prophet) Was there times when David dispaired? Absolutely. Do you want an instance? Try 1 Samuel 27:1 when he fled to the Philistines. He was promised by God that he would be the next king of Israel. Yet he feared for his life because Saul was after him. Clearly he had occasion to mistrust God.
Most every prophet of God, at sometime or another, had occasion to dispair in the face of God’s promises. What Bible are you reading???
Can you sin and still have eternal life? Yes, I don’t think that there are many Christians who would disagree. However, if you have recieved Christ, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. If Christ died for your sins, how could you live in sin and not have the Holy Spirit not beat the tar out of you inside? If you can sin so freely that it doesn’t bother you I have to wonder if you have the Holy Spirit in you. The fact that a professing Christian dispairs of their salvation,is to me a good indicator that they probably ARE a true believer. If they didn’t have the Holy Spirit they wouldn’t care.
I can say this for you, it is admirable that you have a passion for the assurance of salvation as it is true that we shouldn’t LIVE IN DISPAIR, believing that we are unsaved. But you have just taken this a couple of miles too far.
This is my last post on your site, I really didn’t wanna get on here to debate this stuff day in and day out. It just gets exhausting.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Edwin H. Schulze
“When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there who made an end of all my sin.
Because a sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free,
For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.”
–”Before the Throne” by Sovereign Grace Ministries
Do you bear reproach because of Christ or is it because you’re such a jerk that no one can see the offense of the gospel?
Kyle, that song is excellent! It is one of my favorites.
Andrew, I also hold to the persevearance of the saints. *gasp* There was an unclear pronoun reference in my comment on Vinca’s site!!! Horrors! I actaually meant “Vinca, you believe in the perseverance of the saints, don’t you?” but it could have appeared that I was asking you. Nonetheless, thanks for your thourough exegesis of those texts. I’m not sure I entirely agree with you, but I don’t really have a reason to disagree, so I guess I had better study the issue out entirely before I debate it.
And, no, Vinca does not burn hymn books. She enjoys hymns, she just does not believe that they are fit for worship because they are not God-inspired. Do you believe the regulative principles? I’m not entirely convinced of them yet, but as I said in regards to perseverance, that is being studied. Vinca has been most helpful on the topic of psalmody.
Grace and Peace,
~Nella
Oh hi again Nella …. I liked how you wrote me,
=== Vinca does not burn hymn books. She enjoys hymns, she just does not believe that they are fit for worship because they are not God-inspired. Do you believe the regulative principles? I’m not entirely convinced of them yet, but as I said in regards to perseverance, that is being studied. Vinca has been most helpful on the topic of psalmody. ===
You’re right!! We should not do anything in worship that God has not commanded =) Musical instruments, for example, should not be used in worship, because there is no command to use them in the New Testament. In fact, the apostles taught that ALL the Jewish ceremonies and customs have passed away (see Galatians and Hebrews). One of the Jewish customs was using musical instruments, so — yes I agree — we should sing a capella.
Nella, I think we will both agree, we must not go beyond Scripture. If the Bible doesn’t say we can use musical instruments, then we shouldn’t.
This raises some interesting questions and relates to other areas of theology.
For example, I think a lot of Presbyterians and Reformed Baptists go beyond the Bible with their teaching on faith.
Sadly, the reason Presbyterians and Reformed folk doubt their salvation is because they make faith MYSTICAL. They say that it is “more than belief”. Countless Reformed folk — Boston, Warfield, Hodge, Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, Owen etc — have said that it’s possible to believe the gospel in your “head” and not in your “heart”. And that is possible to “assent” to the gospel but not have “faith” in Christ.
And if faith is “more than belief”, what in the world is it? I expect you will give me a very confusing definition!
And such confusing definitions — saying faith is “more than belief” — make assurance of salvation impossible. We’ll never be able to know whether or not we have this mystical thing called “faith”.
Let’s stick with the Scripture. Abraham had faith in God and this is defined as him being “FULLY PERSUADED OF THE PROMISES OF GOD”.
And, according to the Apostle Paul, there is only “ONE FAITH” ( Eph 4:5). Now, if one believer could be doubting their salvation, whilst another believer had full assurance, then wouldn’t they have TWO DIFFERENT FAITHS? Can one man know and believe that he “IS JUSTIFIED”, whilst another man doubts his justification, and it be said that both men possess the same “ONE FAITH”? Of course not. The man doubting his salvation does NOT have “equally precious faith” with the Apostles.
Now, the most likely reason this man doubts his salvation is because he says faith is “more than belief”. And if faith is more than belief, it is mystical, and it will be impossible to work out whether or not we have it.
Faith in Christ is simply intellectual assent to the gospel. God says, “HEAR and your soul shall live” ( Isa 55:3). I hear what God says and believe it, so I live. Faith is simply HEARING and BELIEVING what God says. And this is how believers in the Scripture realised they were saved. They based the evidence of their salvation on their belief of the truth. “And HEARING, the nations REJOICED and glorified the Word of the Lord” ( Acts 13:48). The nations rejoiced straight way because they based the evidence of their salvation on their BELIEF OF THE TRUTH”.
“But these have been WRITTEN THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” ( Jn 20:31). Therefore, 1) anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is saved and 2) faith in Christ is simply believing what is written about Him. “Everyone BELIEVING that Jesus is the Christ IS BORN OF GOD”
And “He that believes God has the witness IN HIMSELF” ( 1 Jn 5) Can someone have God manifested in their conscience, and not know it ? It is possible to have the witness “in yourself” and doubt for even a moment that you have it?
You never doubt that you exist, do you? That’s because you have evidence – you HAVE THOUGHTS – and only those that exist can think.
In the same way, I can never doubt I am a believer. That because I have the evidence – I HAVE BELIEF in the gospel – and only believers can believe!
The Scripture clearly says that all believers know that
1) God promises salvation through Christ’s righteousness and blood to all who believe/assent, and
2) they believe God’s promise and therefore are saved.
ALL the OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS had FULL ASSURANCE of salvation:
“These all died by way of faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them from afar, and being PERSUADED, and having embraced and CONFESSED that THEY ARE STRANGERS and tenants on the earth.”
This passage says that not only were OT saints persuaded of the gospel. Noah, Enoch and Abraham ALSO knew and confessed that they were destined to heaven (and strangers on earth). They confessed that they were destined for heaven, not hell. “The fathers” knew they were saved.
And God says that New Testaments saints have a GREATER understanding than the OT saints!! If the fathers knew they were saved, how in the world could a NT saint — with more light — doubt ???
“And having obtained witness through the faith, these all did not obtain the promise, God having foreseen SOMETHING BETTER CONCERNING US, that they should not be perfected apart from us.”
Moses veil is now removed and NT saints see God manifest in the flesh. They see Him obeying the Law to the death for His sheep.
The OT saints did not have the full understanding of believers today, but they were SO CONFIDENT in God’s promises that they…
“received trial of mockings and of floggings; yea, more, of bonds and of prison: they were stoned; they were tried; they were sawn in two; they died by murder of sword; they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins, being in need, being afflicted, being ill-treated;”
How could they have undergone these trials if they doubted God was their Justifier and Savior?
“By faith “Enoch” was translated so as not to see death, … For before his translation, he had OBTAINED WITNESS to have been pleasing to God.”
Enoch knew that God was well pleased with him because of God’s promise of salvation to all that believe in His Seed. Do you have the faith of Enoch?
“Abraham … LOOKED FORWARD TO A CITY having the foundations of which the builder and maker is God.”
“Moses … counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was LOOKING TO THE REWARD.”
Abraham and Moses knew the city and reward was theirs. These men are patterns for all believers. So, if you do not know whether or not you have the reward — Christ’s righteousness and blood — you are not a believer.
“… others were beaten to death, not accepting deliverance, THAT THEY MIGHT OBTAIN a better resurrection.”
“These all died by way of faith, … being PERSUADED, … For those saying such things make clear that THEY SEEK A FATHERLAND. And truly if they remembered that from which they came out, they had time to return. But now they stretch forth to a better, that is, a heavenly land. Therefore, God is not ashamed of them, for Him to be called their God; for He prepared a city for them.”
God has promised that 1) Christ’s righteousness is upon all those that believe, and that 2) Christ mediates for their sins through His Atonement.
The OT saints knew this and today believers have way more light than the OT saints.
Nella, do you have the full assurance of the OT saints?
Keep in touch,
Andy
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And here’s something I wrote Adam…
Hi again Adam!!
First, let me say how cool your username is — “the sola system”. lol, that’s awesome.
Anyways, here are some of the verses you asked me about….
=== “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) ===
It’s crucial to look at WHEN the centurion said “help my unbelief”. This was BEFORE the Resurrection. And before the Resurrection, NOBODY — including John the Baptist and Thomas — could be certain that Jesus was the Christ. They all had doubts and uncertainties about his messiahship. Nobody could be certain that Jesus was the Christ until the Resurrection. Why? Because Christ said the Resurrection was the ONE SIGN He would give to prove His Sonship. So the only way the centurions unbelief could be cured was by the Resurrection, which would have proved to Him that Jesus was the Christ. Indeed as Peter says in Acts, the Resurrection was God’s declaration to all men that Jesus is the Christ.
Therefore, BEFORE the Resurrection NOBODY could be sure that Jesus was the Christ. However, after the Resurrection and Pentecost, the Holy Spirit declared Jesus to be the Christ. Therefore, anyone today who denies Jesus’ Messiahship is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Unless they repent (have a change of mind) they will likewise perish.
You also asked about the following verse….
=== “No distrust made [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he GREW strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (Rom. 4:20-21) ===
As Peter says, believers “grow in grace and KNOWLEDGE”. Their QUANTITY of their faith increases. They learn more and more.
Next verse…
=== We… shall persuade our hearts before Him, that if our heart accuses us, we know that God is greater than our heart and knows all things. === (Jay P. Green’s Literal translation www. litvonline.com, 1 John 3:19-20) ===
This verse is simply saying that when a believer is convicted of their sins, they know God is greater, and will save them. If “any man sins we have an Advocate with the father”.
OK, now onto the Psalms…
=== “Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation!’” (Ps. 35:3) ===
Psalm 35 is describing Christ under the wrath of God on the cross!
Because in John 15:25, Psalm 35 is applied to Christ. (In fact, none of the Psalms are ever applied to David. He was prophet — and prophets don’t speak about their own experiences… see http://www.Godnoliar.com/psalms.htm)
John 15:25 === But that may be fulfilled the Word that has been written in their Law, “They HATE ME WITHOUT CAUSE.” ===
Psalm 35:19 === do not let those who HATE ME WITHOUT CAUSE wink the eye.
Adam, you shouldn’t be privately interpreting the Psalms. Only Apostles can interpret prophecy!
And speaking of the Apostles — they applied over 30 of the Psalms to Christ. And the other 120 Psalms contain the same words and phrases.
In other words, the Psalms are NOT about David. He was merely a mouthpiece. “The Holy Spirit SPOKE THROUGH THE MOUTH OF DAVID” (Acts 1).
Next verse….
=== I wrote these things to you, the ones believing in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have everlasting life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. === (1 John 5:13)
Now, obviously the people John was writing to already believed in Christ. So why does John say, “I wrote these things … that you may believe in the name of the Son of God” ? Is John saying that they needed to be converted? Of course not. John wrote to REMIND his readers about Christ whom they already believed in. He wrote so that they would continue to believe in Christ. In the same way, John reminded them that they had everlasting life too.
Please read 1 Peter 1:12, where Peter says, “For this reason I will not neglect to cause you to REMEMBER always concerning these things, though you know and have been confirmed in the present truth.”
Peter and John both wrote to cause their readers to REMEMBER the truths about Christ and how he saved them. In fact, Peter states that his readers already knew they had “been confirmed in the present truth”. “You know and HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED”.
Past tense!
John and Peter wrote to remind their readers of what they already knew.
“And this is the witness: that God gave us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 John 5:11)
Notice that John uses the word, “us”. He gave “us” — believers — everlasting life. In other words, if someone does NOT know they are a believer, they cannot say, “God have given me / us everlasting life.” They are not confessing full assurance of salvation, like the Apostle John did. They do not have the faith of the Apostles. And anyone without the FAITH OF THE APOSTLES is damned. Peter ONLY wrote to those, who had “obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:1, KJV)
If your assurance does not match that of the Apostles, you are lost. You are calling God a liar. God says that ALL believers will be saved, and you are saying, “I’m a believer, but I do not know that I’m saved.” Well, God says EVERYONE who believes that Christ was risen from the dead IS SAVED (Romans 10). Clearly, you are IGNORANT of this promise.
“The one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son.” (1 John 5: 10).
Andrew Bain
Hey Andrew C Bain,
Noticed you subscribed and have had an interesting time looking through your blog. I was wondering what kind of church you go to?
My family and I have not been reformed for very many years…we disagreed with our other church a lot and when we *literally* got put out of our that church we really relied on the reformed view of things. It was so helpful. We now go to a Reformed Episcopal church and we all love the amount of liturgy that is gone through and followed every week. (No were far from the Anglican or Episcopal branch that has gone off the deep end)
btw, the Austrailian accent is awesome.
Keep up the good work.
Andrew, I appreciate your response. I shall consider the topic for a further study in the future. I shall probably be hanging around this site a little when on xanga, but for now i have to go. Once again, thanks.
Jeremiah