01/4/22

The Foundation of Our Assurance

There are Christians who seem to live a kind of sun-filled Christian life. They never appear to encounter anything that challenges their assurance of salvation; nothing that disturbs them or their assurance. But others struggle to recognize the tell-tale signs of genuine Christianity in their lives. For most of us, we know there are going to be obstacles and disturbances as we seek to become more Christ-like. “We always need to be prepared for the way in which Satan seeks to spoil our assurance.”

Sinclair Ferguson observed this was what Satan always tries to do. “He knows he cannot destroy our salvation.” But he does everything he possibly can to destroy our enjoyment of salvation. Part of our enjoyment of salvation is knowing that we are truly the Lord’s, that we are really saved. So, in the video, “Hindrances Strew All the Way,” Ferguson invited us to think about a number of possible hindrances that could be obstacles to our enjoyment of salvation.

Sometimes we have a tendency to confuse the foundation of our salvation in justification with the super-structure of that salvation. “If we don’t understand that justification is complete, then in our Christian life, we’re likely to try to add to our justification, or complete our justification.” If that is true, we will not be able to enjoy our justification, because we don’t believe it is really complete enough. Justification is complete when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. “No degree of sanctification will add to your justification.”

If you try to rebuild the foundation of justification by adding to it, you will destroy the assurance you have.

A second thing that can hinder our assurance is inconsistent obedience. If we live in a way that is inconsistent with the gospel, then we’re not far from wondering whether the gospel is really ours.

There is a third hindrance to assurance that is a serious misunderstanding of affliction and suffering. “God promised me blessings, and look at what’s happening to me. How can I be sure of my salvation?” Ferguson said we need realize the problem may be deeper than it first seems. Many Christians are sure God loves them because of the blessings they experience.

“If you base your assurance on the providences of God rather than on the promises of God, when the providences of God become difficult for you, you’re bound to lose your sense of His love.” The first remedy is to understand that our persuasion of God’s love is based on the cross of Christ, not on His providences. God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8), not that He showed His love by giving us many blessings. “So, we don’t find our assurance of our salvation in the blessings that God gives to us.”

Sometimes those blessings come to us in very dark parcels, according to Ferguson. God fulfills many purposes in our lives through suffering, not blessing. Christians need to understand “that sufferings produce character.” If God never disciplined us, it would raise the question of whether we were illegitimate children and not sons (Hebrews 12:8).

So, because we are sinners, of course there are going to be things God does in our lives that grate upon us, because He’s transforming our lives and our wills to conform to His character and His will.

Ferguson makes a point here about affliction that I’ve long seen with recovering alcoholics and addicts. Sometimes God uses afflictions in our lives to prepare us for future service to others. “The day will probably come when you look back on this experience and this hardship and say, ‘Oh, I think I understand now part of why that came into my life, because it’s enabled me to minister to somebody else.’” Now that you’ve walked a little further in the aftermath of your personal affliction, you can help another person understand how things will go; that they can get through it.

Even if I can’t say exactly what God is doing at this point in my life, when I’m struggling with affliction, or suffering, or disappointment, I know the kinds of things He is doing, and I realize everything He is doing, as Paul says in Romans 8, is working together for the good of those who love Him.

That good Paul referred to is to conform us to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many (Romans 8:29). So, when you go through affliction, don’t say, “He doesn’t love me any longer.” Because now we understand He demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, He died for the ungodly. “And there I rest, and in that light, I know that whatever afflictions I may go through are part of His purposes to make me more like Jesus.” Rather than diminishing the sense of His love and oujr assurance of his salvation, they minister to it.

The fourth hindrance to assurance is a misunderstanding of what union with Christ does and doesn’t do. When there has been a sudden, radical transformation in a person’s life, there can be a tendency to think this is what the Christian life is like—overcoming sin is easy. There is a tremendous transformation, and “it’s almost as though it’s easy to deal with sin.” We don’t realize that the Lord has been carrying us, His lambs in His bosom (Isaiah 40:11). Then at some point He says, “You’re going to have to learn to walk the walk.”

There are lots of obstacles as you walk the walk. And the danger arises that you can become prey to others who will say, “Now, are you feeling a bit disappointed with your Christian life? Here is the plan . . . Here is the method, and it will raise you above all the struggle, and you will have fullness of life.” If you are really united to Christ, then you will be delivered from the struggle. This is the very opposite of Paul’s teaching, who says the reason for the struggle is because you have been united to Christ.

Something similar is said about the Holy Spirit, “If you were just filled with the Holy Spirit, all those struggles in the Christian life would go.” Again, Paul counters by in effect saying: “I wouldn’t have any of those struggles were it not for the presence of the Holy Spirit! It’s precisely because the Holy Spirit has come to indwell me that the struggles have begun.” Young Christians will often say that since becoming a Christian life has become more difficult. “If we think union with Christ is the way to be delivered from challenges, difficulties, struggles with indwelling sin, then we haven’t really understood what union with Christ does.”

It transforms our lives and puts us into the battle; the battle with the Devil. Remember that the Devil cannot destroy your salvation, so he will try to destroy your assurance of salvation. In The Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin said: “Satan’s aim is to drive the saint to madness by despair.” Satan wants to make the Christian believer so ashamed of their spiritual condition that they will despair of their salvation.

I cannot say to Satan, “I’m not as bad as that.” The truth may be that I am worse than that. But I am able to say to him along with John Newton, “Although I’m bowed down with a load of sin, by Satan sorely pressed, I may my fierce accuser face, and tell him, ‘Christ has died’” (from the hymn, “Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat,” by John Newton). It takes us back to Jesus Christ, the foundation of all our assurance.

This article has been based on the 12^th and final video in Sinclair Ferguson’s teaching series, The Whole Christ, from Ligonier Connect. Here is a link to Ligonier Connect. The video series is itself based upon his book of the same name. You can review summaries of the Marrow Controversy here and here. If the topic interests you, look for more of my ruminations under the link, The Whole Christ.

08/31/21

Assurance of Transforming Grace

According to Sinclair Ferguson, assurance of salvation is like being married. “Once you’re married, you’re married. It’s yours, you can be sure about it. But you can still struggle with the question, ‘Does she still really love me?’” As a wedding ring is a pledge of your spouse’s love towards you, baptism and the Lord’s Supper are tangible gifts reminding us of our salvation. They reassure us of God’s love for us.

Faith brings assurance, but like in marriage, assurance can grow over time. And just as everyone’s marriage is different (and their experience of being loved in marriage), everyone’s individual experience of assurance is different. “Assurance, in a sense, is shaped individually to us.” Your assurance of salvation is for you; not me or anyone else. I need a sense of assurance that Jesus Christ saved me.

It’s possible for us to grow in assurance, just as our love for a spouse grows with time. “There is an absoluteness about the relationship and there is a progress in it; and that progress is a very individually experienced reality.” How do we grow in the assurance of salvation? How does God lead us on from that initial sense of assurance to the full assurance of salvation? The theologian John Murray said,

The germ of assurance is surely implicit in the salvation which the believer comes to possess by faith. It is implicit in the change that has been wrought in his state and condition. However weak may be the faith of a true believer, however severe may be his temptations, however perturbed his heart may be respecting his own condition, he is never, as regards consciousness, in the condition that preceded the exercise of faith. The consciousness of the believer differs by a whole diameter from that of the unbeliever. At the lowest ebb of faith and hope and love, the believer’s consciousness never drops to the level of the unbeliever at its highest pitch of confidence and assurance.

Right from the beginning, the believer’s consciousness of the Father’s love is always on a higher plane than that of the unbeliever. There are a couple of ways that indicate how this works out. First, assurance is ours because we trust in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ to pardon us and to save us. We need to understand here that we are justified by faith. “But the faith by which we are justified contributes nothing to the justification it receives.”

Faith is the gateway by which we come to Christ. It doesn’t contribute to salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). “When we don’t get that clear, our assurance is going to dissipate.” As long as we think our faith contributed to our justification, when our faith grows weak, we lose assurance instead of our faith making us stronger in Christ. “Few things could be more important to us than having a right understanding of how our justification is by faith.”

In the justification of God through faith, the Father loves us just as much as the Son. Some Christians seem to believe that Jesus had to die in order to convince the Father to love us. “If we think in that way, it will not be long before we are doubting whether the Father really loves us or not. We are sure of Jesus, but we’re not sure of the Trinity. And because we’re not sure of the Father, we’re not sure of the Holy Spirit.”

We need to learn to understand that justification is an eschatological reality. By this Ferguson means it is the judgment of the last day being manifest in the present. This is where and when our assurance rests. If you suppose justification to be progressive, only to be completed on the last day, you will never grasp the full assurance of salvation. “Rightly understanding the gospel enables us to trust in the absolute sufficiency of Jesus Christ to save us eternally because He has already justified us now.”

Sometimes when people are struggling with the problem of assurance of their salvation, it is best to refrain from talking to them about assurance. “Their problem and confusion is actually about justification.” As we minister and encourage one another, we need to realize problems with assurance are often problems understanding justification by God’s free grace. So, one of the ways we can grow into an assurance of salvation, given to us by God in the gospel, is by deepening the appreciation of “the reality of what has been given to us in our justification.”

There is a second way by which assurance may grow illustrated in the epistle of 1 John. The gospel of John was written evangelistically (John 20:31). But the first epistle of John was written to those who already believe in the Son of God, that we may have an assurance of our salvation (1 John 5:13). Unfortunately, the first epistle of John is sometimes read as if he were speaking about qualifications for being a Christian. But Ferguson said, “He’s not speaking about qualifications for being a Christian.”

When reading the epistle, it’s as if John was pointing out to the believer various character traits that indicate whether or not they were saved. “If this is true, then you can be sure” of your salvation. We can be assured we have been born of God if we have keep His commandments (1 John 5:2). Only Christians want to please the Lord by keeping His commandments. This is a kind of medicine that begins to deal with the uncertainty. Sometimes the uncertainty is in the psyche; the way the person thinks about himself or herself.

Another character trait of assurance is found if we practice righteousness (1 John 2:29). Those who are born of God live righteously. “Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7). “Only those who are aligned with the gospel live lives aligned with the gospel.” And then John said he was writing these things to us “so that you may not sin.” Ferguson thought what John meant by that statement was, there must be evidence of a radical breach with sin in my life.

“It doesn’t mean that I never commit sin, it means that my relationship with sin has been radically transformed.” Sin and its dominion is a thing of the past. If you live as though sin reigned in your life, you actually live as though you aren’t a Christian. “And if I’m living as though I’m not a Christian, it’s not very likely I’m going to be sure that I’m a Christian.” Without evidence that a change has really taken place, how could you believe that a change occurred?

“Everyone Jesus Christ saves He transforms.” We are transformed by grace through faith. And this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). The gateway of faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

This article has been based on “Toward Assurance of Salvation,” the eleventh video in Sinclair Ferguson’s teaching series, The Whole Christ, from Ligonier Connect. Here is a link to Ligonier Connect. The video series is itself based upon his book of the same name. You can review summaries of the Marrow Controversy here and here. If the topic interests you, look for more of my ruminations under the link, The Whole Christ.

06/29/21

Assurance by Imputed Righteousness

In the controversy that arose as a result of The Marrow of Modern Divinity in the eighteenth century, one of the questions that arose was whether assurance of salvation is of the essence of faith, or is it a byproduct of faith. “If you believe in Christ, does that mean you are certain to have full assurance of salvation?” Put another way, if someone doesn’t enjoy the full assurance of faith, can they still be a Christian? If you don’t have assurance, “can you really have become a Christian?”

Before and after the Marrow Controversy, pastors have had to help members of their churches who struggled with what it means to enjoy the full assurance of their salvation. It’s a complex and complicated question, but the real complication lies in ourselves, not in the gospel. We are complex and complicated beings. For example, if a Christian has been abused, they may find it is almost impossible to believe anybody loves them.

While it is a wonderful thing for them to discover that Christ loves them, often they’ve scarcely got the framework to comprehend that Christ really loves them. “Nobody has ever really loved me. I see it tells me that in the Bible, and I trust Him, but I don’t feel loved. I don’t feel the full assurance of faith. Does that mean I’m not really a Christian?”

Some would answer, if you’re not absolutely sure you’re saved, there’s no degrees of assurance allowed, no spectrum on which you might fall, you can’t possibly be a Christian because every Christian enjoys the full assurance of faith. The problem is this doesn’t take account of the complex psychological makeup we have as human beings, as individual Christians. “The gospel works equally in us all, but it’s dealing with different obstacles in each of us. And clarity comes at different speeds in our Christian life.”

When we finally “get” a truth of the Christian life, we can get impatient with others who don’t see what we see. “God is much more patient and individual with us than we often are with one another.”

In Church History

In the early church, the was an extraordinary outbreak of gospel power. God raised His Son from the dead. “What could have given the early disciples more assurance than that?” The Holy Spirit was poured out, giving the early Christians great assurance of faith. “They grasped that justification is by God’s free grace received by faith and enjoyed by the believer.” But they also understood there were obstacles to overcome. And some of those obstacles were put there by the church.

By the sixth century, the church’s view was, it might be possible to have assurance of salvation, but that might not be such a good thing. The thinking was that if people did have assurance of their salvation, then they might begin to live any way they want.

Then something began to develop in the way the church understood how salvation works. According to Sinclair Ferguson this was, “Salvation works by God infusing grace into you at baptism.” As we progress in life, God gives us more grace. And as we respond to that grace faithfully, He gives us even more grace. If we lapse back into our old sinful ways, there is a sacrament that will bring us back to the original grace we enjoyed. And as that grace continues to work in us, it changes us more and more.

“It’s like a medicine that has been put into you that increasingly heals you until eventually your faith is suffused with perfect love.” At that point, we become justifiable. God declares us justified on this basis, namely that He has worked in us by His grace to deliver us inwardly from sin. And we are righteously justified because we’re righteous and are therefore justifiable.

The problem with this view of salvation, seen throughout the medieval period, is seen in Martin Luther. He wondered how he could possibly know he had got to the stage where his faith was perfected in perfect love; that he was righteous and God could righteously justify him. The medieval teachers could say, “God justifies us by grace.” But they were not able to say, “God justifies us on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.”

If you are justified on the basis of a righteousness that’s imparted to you, then only when that righteousness is perfect can you be justified.

It wasn’t actually possible to enjoy the assurance of salvation in that system of theology unless you had lived a life that made you a candidate for sainthood; or you had a special revelation from God that you had been justified. Although his fellow monks thought Martin Luther was a candidate for sainthood, he had no assurance of salvation. In that context, the assurance of salvation belonged to a tiny minority. Then came the Reformation.

The story of the Reformation is that justification is given to us not on the basis of infused righteousness, but imputed righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ, not something that Jesus Christ works in us, but what He has done for us. And that justification takes place at the very beginning of the Christian life. And it cannot be increased, and it cannot be destroyed. And from the very moment that we have become Christians, from that very moment we have become Christians, we are as righteous in the sight of God as Jesus Christ is.

Guaranteed Assurance

If you don’t say this, you don’t yet grasp what justification really is. The only righteousness with which you are righteous before God is Jesus Christ’s righteousness. You have no righteousness of your own. “You’re clothed in His righteousness.” And when that realization bursts through, as it did with Luther and then with John Calvin, “there was an outburst of joy, an outburst of salvation.”

It did not mean that people no longer had doubts; that they did not struggle. The assurance of faith existed in a life full of difficulties and it was often challenged. Nevertheless, believers could say: “We rest on Christ by faith. And that means our assurance is guaranteed.” It’s one thing for our assurance to be guaranteed in Christ, and it’s another thing for us to become conscious of it.

Faith in Christ clearly brings assurance, because “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.” (Hebrews 7:25) Faith knows that Christ saves. However, assurance also has something to do with us. “Assurance is not only the way we think about Christ, it’s about the way we think about ourselves in relationship to Christ.”

There is a kind of assurance in faith, “but it’s an assurance of Christ’s ability to save, or we wouldn’t actually be trusting Him. We trust him because precisely He is able to save us.” This is a reality that is progressively worked out in our lives. Some people experience the fruit of it almost instantaneously. Others are like it says in Isaiah, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:2) And by this light we are transformed into the likeness of Christ, making us, living illustrations of the commandments of God.

This article has been based on “The Marrow of Assurance,” the 10th video in Sinclair Ferguson’s teaching series, The Whole Christ, from Ligonier Connect. Here is a link to Ligonier Connect. The video series is itself based upon his book of the same name. You can review summaries of the Marrow Controversy here and here. If the topic interests you, look for more of my ruminations under the link, The Whole Christ.

06/1/21

True Gospel Repentance

At the very beginning of her reflections, the anonymous female author of Evidence for Heaven asked, “How may I come to be truly and infallibly assured of my salvation?” After describing how clear knowledge of our union with Christ assures us of salvation, she noted how evidence that the Holy Spirit lives in us includes our sincere love for God and others for God’s sake. She went on to portray how true Gospel repentance demonstrated that the Holy Spirit of God savingly inhabited our soul. “Wheresoever the Holy Spirit of God dwelleth savingly, in what soul soever he resideth, as a sanctifier, there he worketh true faith and Repentance.”

She quoted Zechariah 12:10, which says: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and plead for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him.” This verse points out two things. First, the Holy Spirit savingly indwells whomever he resides in as a sanctifier; he works true faith and Repentance. Secondly, the presence of these two graces is a true and real testimony of the Holy Spirit’s saving habitation of that soul.

There are four things to note here. Although the grace of Repentance is distinct from faith, it is inseparably bound to justifying faith. The person who lacks either one, has neither. Second, these graces, namely faith, love and Repentance, are coequal. They are so saturated with each other that when one is true, they are all true to some measure.

Thirdly, although every grace of the Spirit is coequal, they actually arrange themselves in the following way: faith precedes love; faith and love precede Repentance. In this way, Repentance is a fruit of faith and love. Fourthly, renewing grace and glory are inseparably linked together. “He that hath the one shall certainly have the other, for this grace is the earnest of our inheritance.”

Repentance is a Divine quality wrought by the Spirit of God in the soul, whereby a sinner, is so touched in heart for his sinnes that he truly turns from them all unto the Lord.

This Repentance consists of two parts: contrition and conversion; humiliation and reformation. The person who would make a genuine trial of their Repentance must have both. But what is Evangelical (gospel) contrition, and how can you know whether or not you have it? It is a godly sorrow of the soul for all sin, apprehended by a gracious God who is displeased by sin. You may discern it by finding evidence of the following fruit.

Evangelical sorrow springs from the Love of God and hatred of sin. It increases the Love of God and hatred of sin in the soul. The Love of Christ constrains the soul to hate sin, to mourn and grieve for sin. The bitterness of this sorrow and grief for sin, sweetens the Love of God in Christ to the soul while it embitters the sense of sin.

Evangelical sorrow is mixed with faith. The mourner bewails his sin and rests on the mercy of God in Christ, the promises which are in him for the pardon of his sin and the mortification of his corruptions, and the grace to change. While faithful adherence is an inseparable concomitant of Evangelical sorrow, faith of evidence is not so. “He that sorrows for his sinne and rests not on Christ for the pardon of his sinne, his sorrow is legal, and not Evangelical, desperation and not contrition.”

Evangelical sorrow is mixed with hope. The mourner has hope of obtaining mercy, even in the deepest of his sorrow for sin. He does not despair, but seeks God for mercy. His sorrow drives him to God, not away from God. The Prodigal Son is an example of this. In his deepest distress he did not despair, but goes to his father for mercy. If he had not had hope of obtaining mercy, “he would never have gone to his father to seek it.”

Evangelical sorrow is a heart-humbling sorrow. It makes your heart humble and lowly. The more this sorrow lies within a heart, the greater is that heart’s humility. The less there is of this sorrow in your heart, the prouder it is; and the more fearless and careless it is of sin. Along with the Prodigal Son, a humble and lowly heart contritely says “I am not worthy to be called a Son, make me as a Servant.”

So it is that the evangelically contrite soul admires free grace in every favor it receives, spiritual or temporal. And above all other souls it is thankful for the mercies it receives, saying: “What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his mercies?” I forfeited all right to Heaven and earth into the Lord’s hands, and he gave it back to me freely and put me in a better condition than I was in before. “O the deepnesse of the riches of the Justice and Mercy of God!”

Set a soul filled with this sorrow, to pray, and he will pray sweetly, and heavenly, fervently, and effectually (to wit) in faith, and so prevaile much with God. Set him to hear and he will hear humbly, and the whole Word of the Lord will be sweet unto him, every precept and every threatening of the Lord, every bitter thing will be sweet unto him, every crum that fals from his Table will he gather up, as precious food. Set a soul filled with this sorrow to Divine Meditation, and he will do it with great delight and freedome.

The Evangelically contrite soul sorrows not so much for suffering as for sinning; not so much for being displeased, as for displeasing and dishonoring God by sin. It is grieved for its sin because the holy Spirit of God is grieved by its sin and broken with its whorish heart, as the Prophet speaks. It is melted by the consideration of the incomparable goodness of God and his kindness and love in Christ towards itself. Rather than broken with horror, threatenings, punishments, or slavish fear, it says: “Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evill in thy sight.”

It counts sin as the worst evil and Christ as the best Good; as the only true Good. It is not satisfied with anything but Christ—Christ in his Blood, Christ in his Spirit, Christ in his Ordinances, Christ in his Ministers—Christ in whosoever his image is stamped is precious. The light of God’s countenance and the sense of his love in Christ is worth more than all the treasures and pleasures in the world. According to the contrite soul, it strengthens more, it comforts more, it puts gladness in my heart more than the choicest Creatures in the world.

Finally, evangelical sorrow is a reforming sorrow, it makes a man truly turn from all sin to the Lord. This is its great distinguishing characteristic and demonstrates the truth of it. Contrition without conversion is not Repentance unto life. Humiliation without Reformation is like a foundation without a building, and reformation without humiliation is but a building without a foundation; a building that will not stand.

Evangelical contrition and true Conversion are so coupled together, that they cannot be divided. Wherever sorrow for sin is found, it is attended with true turning from sin to the Lord. This is the second essential part of true Repentance; what the Scripture calls conversion. He that truly turns from sin, turns from all sin. The person who does not turn from all sin, does not truly turn from any sin.

God requires a sinner to turn from all their transgressions. The individual that truly turns from sin, does this. He does not permit himself to engage in any known sin. He loathes all sin and consciously endeavors to forsake all sin; to get every corruption mortified. He does not fake repentance as the Hypocrites do, but does it with his whole heart.

Wouldest thou then know, whether thy Repentance be Repentance unto Life, or no? whether it be such as truly demonstrates the holy Spirit’s saving habitation in thy soul, and the truth of thy faith, yea, or nay? Thou must then have recourse to both the parts of true Repentance fore-mentioned (to wit) contrition and conversion; and if by what hath been said, it appears to be truly such, know that it is a sure argument of thy eternal happinesse, bless God for it and labour to grow in it.

This is the sixth reflection I’ve done on excerpts from Evidence for Heaven, written by an anonymous Puritan female author. Edward Calamy was credited as the author, but he himself acknowledged it was actually written by a female member of his church.

05/15/15

More Evidence for Heaven

The anonymous female author of Evidence for Heaven (see another article titled: Evidence for Heaven) began her treatise with a catechism-like question: “How can I come to be truly, and infallibly assured of my salvation?” Her simple answer was by knowing you are united with Christ: “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The follow up question, again mirroring a catechism, was how could you be certain? Her answer was to diligently examine yourself to see whether or not you have the Spirit of Christ. “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9).

To be assured of your union with Christ, the author said you must diligently search and examine yourself for the operation of the Holy Spirit in your soul. He would be evident in the special sanctifying graces working in the hearts of the Elect. Among those special graces is faith—justifying faith. “Faith is the grace, and the only grace, whereby we are justified before God, by it we eat of the Tree of Life, (Jesus Christ) and live for ever.”

Satan knows this and would flatter the person to Hell by persuading them that their faith is good and true when actually it is what Christ described in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-8; 18-23). Conversely, when Satan seeks to overthrow all hope of Heaven, he seeks to convince the person that their faith is a counterfeit, pretended one. Therefore, it concerns all persons to thoroughly try their faith to see if it is a feigned or unfeigned faith, a temporary or justifying faith.

And when searching your soul for this grace of faith, value the truth of it more than the strength of it. Christ absolutely requires the truth of belief, but not the strength of belief. “He will not suffer that soul that hath but the least grain of true faith to miscarry.” But, what is this faith and how is it different from a temporary faith?

Justifying faith is a special work of the Spirit of God upon the Soul, causing a man to lay hold on the special promises of Mercy, and Salvation by Christ, and all other promises, which are, in him, yea, and in him, Amen, and rest upon him that hath promised, for the accomplishment of his word.

This Faith may be distinguished from other kinds of faith by the following properties. It is bred, fed, and nourished by the word preached. It is grounded on the written Word. It gives firm, absolute and unlimited assent to the whole Word of God. This Faith is seated in the heart. It is not merely head-assenting, it is heart-consenting. It is unfeigned, where a hypocrite’s faith is feigned. “This Faith is a Christ-receiving faith.” It embraces Christ as Savior and Lord—in all his offices as Prophet, Priest and King.

This Faith is a working Faith. As James says, Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). It purifies and cleanses, not only the outer person, but the heart as well. It spurs you on to obedience—active, passive, sincere, universal and constant. It makes you wait patiently on God, for Him to accomplish all the good he promised in his Word—by whatever means he has ordained.

It makes the person open-hearted and open-handed towards others—ready to do good to all in misery, but especially to the Godly. They do this not for their own glory, but for the honor of Christ and the Gospel. It makes a person industrious, laboring to keep a good conscience in all things; to walk inoffensively towards God and towards others in all things. This Faith is always accompanied by true repentance. “He that truly believes, unfeignedly repents.” It is always accompanied with new obedience.

This Faith is a world overcoming Faith. It is a flesh overcoming and a Devil-overcoming Faith. Although a true believer, “may be put to the worse” many times, and foiled by one or another of these enemies, in the end they overcome them all: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). It is permanent and persevering. It holds on to death, and it is never totally lost. “A true believer, as he lives in the faith, so he dyes in the faith.”

These words plainly evidence, that justifying faith is persevering faith, it holds out unto the death and ends in fruition, it can never be totally nor finally lost; and this indeed is it’s distinguishing property, and it is the property of every renewing grace; every renewing grace holds out unto the end; that grace which weares the Crown of Glory is persevereing (Revelations 2:10).

Sadly, it is not always so in appearance, but it is in truth. A true believer may at times seem both to himself and to others to have lost his faith and his other graces. However, as Job said: “The root of the matter is found in him”; it is found in his inward parts (Job 19:28; 38:36). A true believer may, for a time, lose his or her comfort of their grace and the power of acting on their grace. Yet they never totally lose the habit of renewing grace. “These gifts of God are without repentance.”

Wouldest thou then know, whether thy faith be sound and saving, and such as consequently demonstrates the holy Spirits saving habitation in thy soule; try and examine thy saith, by these properties and Scripture-Characters of a true justifying faith, and if it hold correspondency with them, know for thy comfort, that it is such as really demonstrates the holy Spirits saving habitation, and special operation in thy soul, thy Union with Christ, and eternal salvation by him, whatsoever Satan or thine own conscience abused by Satan, may at any time hereafter say to the contrary, and give the Lord the praise.

This anonymous author then goes on to speak of even more graces that demonstrate the assurance of your salvation. There is love, repentance, obedience, poverty of spirit, death to sin, being a new creature in Christ, being chastised by the Father, suffering as a Christian, and more.

As she concluded her treatise, she said she had traveled through the Holy Scriptures and searched to see what she might find therein that might entitle her to “the inheritance of the Saints of Light.” She noticed a variety of places in Scripture that were helpful for this purpose. Some of these she studied industriously, according to her poor ability and as God helped her. She committed what she found to writing for her present and future benefit and as a legacy to her children. Having done so, she committed this work and its reader “to the blessing of God, through Christ.”

If you or someone you know struggles with the assurance of their salvation, I’d encourage you to spend some time reading through and studying what she has shared in Evidence for Heaven.

05/1/15

Evidence for Heaven

“Faith is the grace, and the only grace, whereby we are justified before God, by it we eat of the Tree of Life, (Jesus Christ) and live for ever.” (Edmund Calamy)

The above quote introduced “Evidence of Heaven,” the February 22nd daily meditation for Day by Day with the English Puritans. In typical Puritan fashion, the full title of the original work was: “Evidence for Heaven: Containing Infallible Signs and Real Demonstrations of our Union with Christ and Assurance of Salvation.” Day by Day listed Edmund Calamy as the author, and a Google search found a link to a digitized copy of the original work here. Evidence for Heaven was attributed to the Puritan preacher, but Calamy himself said its true author was an anonymous female member of his church.

While the author’s anonymity will seem odd to moderns, it was unusual for a ‘gentlewoman’ in 1657 to write and then publish something she wrote. As Clamay said in his introduction: “I hope no man will condemn this Book, because written by a Woman but rather admire the goodnesse, love, and power of God, who is able to do such great things, by such weak instruments.” He added that it was her “great desire” that her name be concealed. If anyone were to reap a spiritual advantage by reading it, “she hath obtained the height of her ambition.”

In the Preface, the author said it was her intention to “lay down some rules” by which a person that wants to have some assurance, or “Evidence for Heaven” can know that they have been chosen (predestined) to eternal life. They must seek it in Christ and in union with Christ, which is the only true touchstone we have to try ourselves. If they were to go to someone else or from person to person—like a bee goes from flower to flower—to find assurance of their salvation, the world would say: “We have heard of the fame thereof, but know not what it is.” Even God’s people would say, “We thirst after it, but know not where to find it.”

Her counsel was to go to Scripture: “it will tell thee in the Word.” She urged her readers to frequent the Word preached; to read the Word printed; to seek evidence in renewing grace; to seek it in the narrow way. “These are the paths wherein the flock of Christ have gone before us, and which they have trodden out unto us; follow their foot steps, if thou wouldest attain assurance.” And this search must be done diligently, orderly, humbly and perseveringly.

First is the need for diligence. As it says in 2 Peter 1:10, we are to be “all the more diligent” to confirm our calling and election. We should seek assurance as a treasure laid hidden deep in the bowels of Scripture. As Solomon taught us to strive for wisdom and understanding, we should: “seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures” (Proverbs 2:4). We should labor for it as those who work in the silver-mines.

Second is the need for the right order; we must follow the vein. We must begin with the branches of regeneration and justification for they issue out of predestination, which is the root of salvation. When Jesus instructed Nicodemus about his spiritual estate, he did not send him to Heaven “to read the records of the celestial court.” Rather, he sent him to search his own heart and life—to consider whether he was regenerate and born again. If someone wants good evidence of the love of God and their own salvation, they must begin with the workings of God in and upon themselves.

That he that would get assurance of his Election, must seek it in the workings of God, in, and upon himself; he must consider, how his justification is evidenced by his sanctification, and his election by both. Sanctification is Gods work in us, justification is Gods work upon us, both together are certain pledges of his good will towards us

Third, the person who seeks assurance should do it humbly; with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Although it is possible for a child of God to know their estate, it is very difficult. A seeker of assurance must seek it with a holy fear and jealousy—humbly on their knees.

Fourthly, they must seek it perseveringly; never giving over until they have received. Never giving over until they find what they seek. They must follow the example of the Bride searching for her beloved (Song of Solomon 5:6f). They should persist like the Canaanite woman, who did not rest until she got her answer (Matthew 15:22-28). The Scripture exhorts all Christians to labor for assurance; to be diligent to confirm their calling and election (2 Peter 1:10).

They should make every effort to supplement their faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

Assurance is a thing of incomparable worth, a thing which no man knoweth, but he that hath is, a thing that no man prizeth so much, as he that wants it; in a word, it is a thing of such incomparable worth, that a man cannot buy it at too deare a rate: Could a man but know its goodnesse, and taste its sweetnesse, he would think no labour too much to attain it, no sinne too sweet to part with for it, no sufferings too much to preserve it, no care and industry too much to increase it; for it is (indeed) next grace, the most precious and delectable love token, that we can possible receive from Jesus Christ the Bridegroom of our souls, in his bodily absence. And if this will not persuade thee, Reader, to seek after it, I leave thee to him to persuade, who persuaded Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem; what God hath bin pleased to impart unto me on this Subject, I have committed to writing, more than this, I dare not do, for going out of my sphere, and lesse then this, I could not do, least I should be blamed of my Heavenly Father, for hiding my Talent in a napkin, and burying divine love in a dunghill; if ever this little draught of Evidence, which I penned for my own use, and hope to leave to my Children for theirs, should by any providence come abroad to publique view, my desire and hope is. That this little draught of Evidence may (through Gods Blessing) be helpful to some of Christ’s Lambs, to some poor souls, which thirst after assurance on Scriptures-grounds, and invite others of profounder judgments, and greater abilities, to search the Scriptures, by them to make discovery of the way to get this precious and invaluable Jewel of sound assurance.

There are still people today who struggle with doubt regarding their salvation. They would do well to spend time reading the thoughts of this anonymous gentlewoman, a member of the congregation of Alderman-bury. Our anonymous author suffered from an affliction for over thirty years that kept her, in great measure, from public and private spiritual helps which others enjoyed. And yet she could write of the assurance of salvation with confidence that speaks to us over 350 years after it was published.

Faith Seeking Understanding

Charles Sigler, D.Phil.

Tag: assurance of salvation