September 23, 2006
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John Piper writes
==== “The evidence that the Holy Spirit presents to our own spirits and to the community is first of all the evidence of love. The Spirit puts within us a humble heart of love and so gives evidence of his presence and power…. Assurance will diminish in the presence of concealed sin…We must often wait patiently for the return of assurance.” ====
Is it any wonder that Piper’s assurance is “diminished” when he sins greviously?
Notice from the quote above that he is basing his assurance on his humility and love. It’s his “humble heart” that proves to him he is saved. This means that when he sins greviously – for example, showing a lack of humility — his “proof” has disappeared, and he loses his assurance. In other words, Piper has made his assurance dependent on his works, and will have doubts about his salvation whenever he realises how far his works fall short of God’s Law.
There is a major problem with basing our assurance on our works. If we have to base our assurance on our works, the more we come to understand the Bible, the less assurance we will have. How ironic!! Because the more we understand the demands of God’s law, the more we will see how far short we fall of it. And if we are basing our assurance on our works, we will LOSE OUR ASSURANCE as we see more and more how much our works fail to meet the requirements of the Law.
Don’t get me wrong. It is true that all believers experience love and humility. However, these are not the basis of assurance. In fact, believer obey God of THANKS and gratitude. They obey because they already know God saved them! And HOW do they know he has saved them? Because they believe the facts of the Gospel. Indeed, if belief is sufficient proof we are saved, and believers are sealed at all times as believers, then we will never doubt our salvation. The belief in the Gospel will always prove to us we are saved.
Or was Paul wrong when he said in Colossions 2:2 that they should be COMFORTED because they UNDERSTOOD? Aren’t we to base the evidence our salvation on our belief of the truth? 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. 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.
We are at a crossroads. Shall we follow Piper down a road that destroys assurance of salvation? He is teaching that…
Andrew,
I must say that I can’t disagree with you more. I know the Piper sermon that you are quoting, and if you read the sermon, you will find that he isn’t teaching a works salvation at all. He has a clear understanding that in 1 John it talks about the continual presence of sin (in the Greek present active indicative tense, which indicates a lifestyle, continual, habitual sin) and teaches clearly that if someone claims to be a believer but is living a life of sin, they have reason to question whether or not they are a believer (I John 2:19, 3:6). You see, if someone claims to be a believer at one point in their life, and later goes off the deep end and disregards God and His law, it’s not that they lose their salvation. They prove that they were never saved. He is arguing your point- those who hold fast to the end are those who are truly saved. It’s the great doctrine of perseverance of the saints. That is what Piper is teaching in this sermon. He is speaking to those who are claiming to be believers but are living with no fruit and saying- look at your heart. If you claim to be an apple tree, but you aren’t producing apples, it may be because you aren’t an apple tree at all. He is teaching the fear of God- a great and healthy fear- that if we persist in sin, it may be because we were never saved. Not that it is by our works that we remain saved because it is the love of Christ that controls us (2 Cor. 5:14), right? Because it is GOD who is at work within us to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13), right? We will and we do, this is true…but it is because God is at work in our hearts. That is perseverance of the saints. But you can’t ignore man’s effort. You can’t say that I can live however I please and God’s grace is sufficient, the apostle Paul says that’s a faulty argument. May it never be! He says. So you may want to reread that sermon with new eyes, and see what Piper is truly saying. I’m glad you are thinking critically and hard about what the Scripture says- we all need to be good Bereans- but make sure you don’t misquote or misunderstand what is being said and run ahead of yourself.
I hope you are encouraged to continue seeking hard after Christ by His grace alone- and are comforted by the assurance of your salvation- and are motivated to obedience by the fear of God- these are all critical in our walks with Christ. Keep pressing hard after Him.
-Beth
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