Dr. McGee had an interesting story that he told about his own conversion to Christ and his struggle with the assurance of salvation.
He said, “If I may be permitted a final personal reference, this is my experience. I have never been able to put my finger on the moment that I was converted. As a boy, I went to an altar under a brush arbor, but no one thought to speak to me about my soul or to explain the way of salvation. The devil formerly used this to disturb my mind when I heard someone testify to a transforming experience. That master of doubt and deception would lean over my shoulder and whisper, ‘How do you know that you have accepted Christ?’
“Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer gave me the solution to this problem in a class lecture when I was in seminary, and the devil does not disturb me on this score anymore. Now I say to him, ‘Perhaps you are right. I may never have accepted Christ in the past. But you are witness that here and now I accept Him with all my heart. Now I am a child of God.’”
The reality is that many people, even some seminarians like Dr. McGee, struggle with the assurance of their salvation. One of Satan’s most effective tools to defeat you is to get you questioning whether you really are a child of God or not, so he can render you impotent in your spiritual life. As long as you are struggling with the certainty of your relationship with God then you are limited in your boldness for Christ. There is a fear that plagues you and prevents you from walking with God in confidence. It’s a debilitating spiritual handicap when you are unable to speak with certainty about being right with God.
The next time you go to the airport to take a flight, carefully observe the people around you to see if you can tell the difference between the ones that have confirmed tickets and those that have standby tickets. It’s not uncommon that those with confirmed tickets are relaxed, reading newspapers, talking and laughing on their cell phones while they await their boarding call.
On the other hand, people that are on standby are often hanging around the ticket counter, pacing anxiously, and fidgety. They’re just hoping to get the call that a seat is available for them on the next flight.
The difference in the actions of these two types of passengers is the confidence factor. The people with confirmed tickets are able to relax, knowing they’re getting on the plane. But the people who are on standby aren’t certain, so they’re nervous about what the future holds!
That’s a pretty good, though imperfect, analogy of the difference between having a certainty to your relationship with Christ and having a “hope so” kind of relationship.
In order for us to understand what we mean by the assurance of salvation we need to first define the term so that we are all considering the same subject matter. My definition goes like this: It is the confident realization of the fact that eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and a relationship with God is ours through Jesus Christ, Whom we have trusted for our personal salvation.
cf. 1 John 5:13
God never intended His people to live with anything less than an absolutely certainty that they are right with Him and ready to meet Him in Heaven. He wants them to comprehend the facts of their salvation and His provision to them through faith in His Son.
Why is it then that so many Christians fail to have this confidence and assurance?
Like a doctor trying to diagnose the underlying cause of a patient's illness, let’s look at some of the underlying reasons people aren’t living confidently in their relationship with God. Each of these reasons represents the experiences I have encountered with people in my own ministry. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but it definitely touches on several of the most frequently experienced causes why people struggle with the certainty of their salvation.
Reason #1: Unexplained truth
It’s sad but true that too often in dealing with people about their eternal souls we have helped many to trust Christ, but have failed to lead them into the full assurance of their decision by pointing them to this important scriptural truth. Even before baptism we want a person to take God at His word in knowing that what He promised He always completes. When the Bible says that a man/woman that “has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12), it means exactly what it says.
Evangelist John R. Rice tells the story about his own conversion to Christ in one of his books. He says, “When I was a boy about nine years old, in the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Texas, the pastor...preached on the prodigal son.
When the invitation was given, I walked down the aisle and told the preacher, ‘All right, I have come to trust Jesus.’ But nobody then took the Bible and showed me how Christ had promised to us everlasting life. Nobody showed me any Scripture. They just said, ‘Now, John, you ought to join the church.’
“Well, I went home that day and said, ‘Dad, what about me joining the church? (I didn't know how to tell him what had happened.) He said: ‘Well, son, when you are really old enough to repent of your sins and be regenerated, there will be time enough to join the church.’ ...I didn't know what those big words meant, but if my dad didn't think I was saved, I guessed I wasn't, since he was the smartest man in the world. So, sadly I put it aside. I supposed I was too young. Dad seemed to think so, and I supposed I was not saved.
“...I went on doubting for three sad years. Then I decided to leave this thing with Jesus. I remember I asked a preacher to pray for me and I didn't say, ‘Tell me how to be sure.’ He didn't know how to tell me, I suppose. All he said was, ‘All right, John, I'll pray for you and you pray for yourself.’
“So I went home and knelt down by my bed that night and prayed, but I didn't feel any better. I went to bed and I didn't feel good and I said, ‘I had better get this settled.’ So I got up and knelt down and prayed again. Well, I decided I would join the church and try to live for Christ the best I could.
“But after I had been saved for three years I started reading the Bible. I read the Scripture which says, ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life’ (John 3:36). I read where ‘he that believeth on him is not condemned’ (John 3:18). I read John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ I read John 1:12: ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’ I said, ‘Here it is. When I believed in Jesus, when I trusted Jesus, I got everlasting life! That is what the Bible says.’ And, God is my witness, as far as I know, I have never had a second of doubt about my salvation since then.”
Dr. Rice’s story is a reminder that we have to lead people into this truth about the assurance of salvation so they can know that they are God’s children. When a person can say I’m a child of God because the Word of God says so...that’s success!
Reason #2: Unsettled feelings
On other occasions people have doubts about their relationship with God because they have the mistaken notion that they had to feel differently after trusting Christ or the feeling they experienced at the moment of their salvation has left them. In other words, they are allowing their emotions to be the determining factor of whether they possess eternal life rather than the Scriptures themselves.
Sometimes I’m afraid that we’ve been guilty of suppressing genuine emotion in an effort not to embarrass ourselves or not to be associated with groups that seem to major on emotional experiences. Really, though, there is nothing wrong with being emotional!
However, your salvation isn’t dependent on how you felt at the moment of your conversion or how you feel at this very moment in time. Salvation is the gift of God (Romans 6:23) to all that meet the condition to receive His gift. And, the condition He prescribed for receiving His gift is faith in the finished work of Christ Who died for our sins and rose again.
The assurance of our salvation is not subjective (based on our changing emotions), it is objective (based on His unchanging Word). You have to claim the promises of scripture knowing that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2) or break a promise. If He says you are His child...you are His child!
Reason #3: Unreasonable demands
One commonly overlooked reason why some people lack the assurance of their salvation is that they have been exposed to a legalistic style of ministry/preaching that measures a person's salvation on the basis of how closely they follow the “rules and regulations.” This has nothing to do with teaching Christians to follow the truths of scripture as an expression of their gratefulness for Christ’s wonderful gift of forgiveness. This is about making a person’s eternal security dependent on the works he does, rather than on faith alone in Christ alone.
There are at least two common mistakes that some people make when teaching about the doctrine of soteriology. One is to “frontload” the Gospel with works they indicate are necessary for a person to come to Christ. The other is to “backload” the Gospel with works they indicate are necessary to prove a person has come to Christ. Most evangelicals would rightly call “frontloading” the Gospel heresy, but at the same time they’ll ignore those that “backload” the Gospel. With either of these two errors, what you have done, in essence, is make works necessary for salvation and negated the sole condition of faith in Christ as the only means of being made right with God.
If justification is based on faith alone then it stands to reason that assurance is also based on faith alone. As someone has said, “To argue for justification by faith and assurance by works is like arguing that two plus two equals four, but four minus two equals three.”
Even the debate in some circles about so-called, “easy believism” really boils down to whether a person can have the assurance of their salvation or not. The term “easy believism” is a misnomer as believing on Christ is easy in the sense that Christ has done all the work for us. And God made it that way so that even a child could believe and be saved!
Discipleship on the other hand is demanding and unfortunately, not everyone goes on to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus because the cost is too high. They want to be God’s child, they want to live for Him to a point, but there are limits they place on how far they will go with Him. However, in the process of encouraging Christians to a deeper commitment to Christ, we must not confuse the sole condition of salvation and assurance (faith) with the several conditions of being a devoted follower of Jesus.
If we teach people that they have to look to their good works to determine the assurance of their salvation there will never be anyone that experiences assurance! Who among us doesn’t fall short of all that God commands? And, if a person thinks that his works are worthy proof that he knows Christ...isn’t that arrogance of the worst sort? (cf. Matthew 7:21-23) How much is enough and how little is too little to have assurance of salvation?
The real problem isn’t that we’ve made the Gospel too easy, but that we’ve failed to lead people to fully appreciate the full implications of what Christ has done for us. It’s not until we grasp the true meaning of what it cost Christ to save our souls and the desperation of our condition apart from Christ, that we begin to surrender to all it means to be a fully devoted follower of Christ.
R. T. Kendall notes regarding some people from the reformed tradition whose tendency it is to “backload” the Gospel: “One of the most stunning discoveries I made at Oxford, and it's sad, is that so many of these men, who are household names in reformed homes today, died doubting whether they were saved. It's a melancholy fact. And it is a melancholy fact that godly men ever since have too often questioned their own salvation.” ("The Ground of Assurance," Westminster Record [ca. 1988], p.27).
The right question we need to be asking if we’re going to help people find the assurance of their salvation is, “Have you trusted Christ to be your Savior?” That and that alone is the determining factor as to whether you can have assurance or not.
There is only one basis on which a person can know if he is secure in Christ and that’s faith alone in Christ alone. Nothing added to it and nothing taken from it.
Reason #4: Unwise comparisons
I trusted Christ when I was sixteen years of age and began my journey of following Jesus. About a year after my conversion I attended a revival meeting with a powerful and persuasive evangelist that was speaking about the importance of knowing Christ. At the conclusion of his message there were several that responded to trust Christ for salvation. After the close of that portion of the service some of them shared their testimonies of why they responded to the message that night. Among them was a Sunday School teacher, a deacon and his wife, and two or three other present church members. As I listened to their description of what they had just experienced I began asking myself the question, “Could I have missed being genuinely saved, too?”
My experience with Christ wasn’t nearly as dramatic as theirs and I had never felt some of the things they were describing that preceded their personal conversions during that invitation. As I compared my experience to theirs it started a process in me of doubting my own salvation. That was followed by the fear of dying without Christ and repeatedly asking Jesus to save me.
I didn’t realize at the time but what I was trying to do was mimic their experiences. It wasn’t until I made up my mind that I would trust God’s Word and the promises of His Word that I found freedom from my doubts.
Everybody's journey to Christ is different, though they all lead past Calvary and the empty tomb. The one common denominator of all Christians is that they have put their trust in Christ as their only hope of eternal life with God. The other details are different for each believer and unique to his/her life experiences.
Reason #5: Unconfessed sins
As common as any of the other reasons for struggling with the assurance of salvation is the reality that even after trusting Christ we still sin at times.
The moment a person believes on Christ for eternal life the Bible teaches that his sins are forgiven forever. It’s one of the great truths that all new believers need to learn and one mature believers need to remember. What Jesus did for us on Calvary was pay a debt we could not pay so He could cancel the debt we owed. That, however, doesn’t mean we never sin again. Sometimes when there is persistent, unconfessed sin in our lives it strikes at the very heart of our assurance of salvation. And, the devil is always there with the question, “How could you be a Christian and do that type of thing?”
What we need to understand is the distinction between our relationship with God and our fellowship with Him. When a person trusts Christ as Savior he is immediately brought into a right relationship with God with all the privileges of fellowshipping with Him, too. When he sins it affects his fellowship with God, but it does not change his relationship to Him.
The thing we have to know is that once you become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ you entered into a relationship that will never change. God never rejects His children or takes away their eternal life. And, that’s the reason we seek to break the pattern of sinfulness in our lives. We live to please Him, not ourselves.
When King David committed his sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah we find him desperate to reconnect with God in fellowship. In one of the most famous prayers of the Old Testament, Psalm 51, David cries out to God for forgiveness of his transgressions. He prays for the nearness of God again in His life and for opportunity to teach others the ways of God. That’s what must happen in the life of any New Testament believer when he sins against God, as well. He must confess to Him the error of his ways and God promises to forgive and cleanse him of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). This isn’t confession in order to get into a right relationship with God again. This is confession to restore a right fellowship with God again.
There is no sin that can sever you from your relationship with God, but any sin will hinder your fellowship with Him, if you allow it to go unconfessed. Thank God, any hindrance “between [your] soul and the Savior” can be removed by simple confession or agreement with Him that what you have done is wrong.
Having considered a few of the reasons people lack the assurance of their salvation it should be understood that I’m not trying to talk any person into having something they do not actually possess. Neither is it my desire to talk anyone out of something they actually do possess. My desire is to help you evaluate what may be causing you to miss out on the assurance of your salvation so that you will deal with it and find the peace God intends you to experience.
So, let's ask again the most important and only question that really matters, “Are you trusting Christ alone as your Savior?”
If your answer to that question is “no,” will you trust Him right now? Just tell Him that you will rely on Him and Him alone for eternal life. Don’t put your confidence in anything or anyone else!
If your answer is absolutely “yes,” then you need to take these three concluding thoughts to heart and rest in the salvation God has given you.
Closing Truths:
A. It is Christ’s power that secures us.
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:28-29)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
- We don’t keep ourselves saved...He keeps us saved!
B. It is Christ’s provision that seals us.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
- The guarantee of our eternal salvation is in us in the person of the Holy Spirit.
C. It is Christ’s promises that settle us.
- At least 150 times the Bible says that our salvation is predicated on one thing... “believing/trusting” Christ.
- Our assurance of salvation is founded upon the promises of a faithful God and His Word.
What God wants us to enjoy is a blessed assurance that Jesus is our personal Savior! No questions, doubts, or “hope so” about it. He wants us to be able to say with absolute certainty that we are the children of God. Not because we are that good, but because He is that gracious!
Fanny Crosby was blinded at six weeks of age because of an improper medical treatment she received. In her 95 years of life she wrote more than 8,000 Gospel songs that have blessed multitudes of believers. Among them is the hymn, “Blessed Assurance,” which expresses well what God wants you to enjoy with Him.
Listen to the words of two of the verses of this song and the chorus and take them to heart.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of His spirit, washed in HIs blood.
Perfect submission--all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blessed;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Chorus:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
