Day 239

Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

Chapter 18, Paragraph 4.

“…by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light;…”

Scripture Lookup

Psalm 30:7

Reflection

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

These are words the Lord gives to comfort those that are His. He does not lie.

There are times, though, when true believers do not have the light of His countenance upon them. The Lord has sovereignly purposed for these children of His to experience walking in darkness. The blessing of God’s favor is not felt. Rather, His displeasure and discipline are constantly before her. At these times, assurance of salvation wanes.

What should a Christian do in such situations? Knowing that assurance can falter during such times helps to prepare for if those times come. If you have sin to confess, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. The promises of God have not changed, even if our feelings have. Remember that, when the darkness engulfs you and you don’t know when His face will shine on you again.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. -James 4:8

Questions to Consider

• Have you ever experienced God withdrawing His countenance?

Day 238

Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

Chapter 18, Paragraph 4.

“True Believers may have the assurance of their Salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special Sin, which woundeth the Conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation,…”

Scripture Lookup

Canticles (Song of Solomon) 5:2,3,6
Psalm 51:8,12,14
Psalm 116:11; 77:7,8, 31:22

Reflection

Assurance of salvation is not something that, once obtained, remains vibrant throughout the course of the believer’s life. Certain circumstances can cause it to wane. Three such circumstances are: neglecting its preservation, falling into a especially conscience-pricking sin, and by an extremely passionate temptation. At such times assurance is naturally frail.

How does a believer neglect the preservation of her assurance? By neglecting to make her calling and election sure. Ignore the means of grace provided, refuse to avail yourself of what God has given to enlarge your heart in joy and thankfulness to Him, and confidence in your salvation will wane.

Certain sins cause great anguish of the conscience. While all sin is horrible, there are sins that are especially heartbreaking. They also grieve the Spirit, the same Spirit that works repentance in us. When a conscience is crushed and the Spirit grieved, assurance of salvation is low.

Temptation is not sin. However, it can come upon you so strongly and suddenly that any confidence carried is knocked out of you. This is not temptation that we face daily, but as Sam Waldron writes in his commentary on the Confession,

…the authors of the Confession apparently intend us to think here…of an overwhelming trial or solicitation to evil which for a time so shakes the believer’s emotional frame that he questions his assurance.

These are all ways a believer can diminish her assurance. Thankfully, that assurance, although brought low, will not be quenched. May we pray for strength to persevere no matter the state of our assurance.

Questions to Consider

• What should a Christian do when her assurance is low?

Day 237

Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

Chapter 18, Paragraph 3.

“…and therefore it is the duty of every one, to give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this Assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness.”

Scripture Lookup

Romans 5:1,2,5, 14:17

Psalm 119:32

Romans 6:1,2

Titus 2:11,12,14

Reflection

Struggling with assurance? What should you do? Is there anything you can do? While we cannot merit our salvation, we can have assurance that we are saved. Through the means that God has provided, the Spirit enables us to know what He has freely given to the believer. Prayer, Scripture, the Lord’s Supper, baptism, worshiping with the saints are such means. Participating in them may feel as if you are rowing against the tide, but as you continue, the load lessens and the joy of assurance is obtained.

When you are hungry yet wish to feel full, you do not reject food given for your nourishment. Likewise, if you are struggling with assurance, do not neglect what is beneficial for your soul. These have been given to enlarge your heart in the joy and peace of the Spirit!

Settled in your assurance? What should you do? Does infallible assurance mean a free pass to sit on the couch and do nothing? Of course not! A result of such assurance is that the believer cheerfully obeys her Lord’s commands. This doesn’t look much different than what the unsure believer is to do, and the result of a heart enlarged in the joy and peace of the Spirit is also the same. Each receive strength to obey, with love and thankfulness to God. Assurance is the wind that pushes our sails onward in Christian obedience.

Resting in Christ, with assurance confirmed with inward evidence of saving graces, does not mean retirement from Christian life. The believer presses on, availing herself of the nourishment He has spread for her. Continue to work out your salvation, then, with fear and trembling, confident that God is working in you.

Questions to Consider

• How diligent are you at making your calling and election sure?

Day 236

Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

Chapter 18, Paragraph 3.

“This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true Believer, may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it; yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may without extraordinary revelation in the right use of means, attain thereunto:…”

Scripture Lookup

Isaiah 50:10

Psalm 88

Psalm 77:1-12

1 John 4:13

Hebrews 6:11,12

Reflection

Confidence of salvation will always mark a true believer: yes or no?

True faith brings assurance, but it does not necessarily bring it immediately. While the saving graces of God enact change in a believer, such changes may cause her to question her salvation. Especially when struggling with certain sins, frustration and despair tend to surface: “Walking in holiness isn’t coming easily – what’s wrong with me? I must not be one of Christ’s elect. He wouldn’t want someone like me.” Such thinking, though misinformed, can be thought by believers. After all, in the irreconcilable fight against the flesh, the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail (Confession 13.3).

Although assurance may not come to a believer for a time, a comforting fact is it will come eventually. We do not need to wait until we die to know if we are truly saved. The Spirit guiding us into all truth through the means of grace that God has provided – Scripture, prayer, worshiping with the saints, the Lord’s Supper and so on – enables us to obtain such a blessed assurance.

Questions to Consider

• If you are struggling with whether you are truly saved, what should you do?

Day 235

Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

Chapter 18, Paragraph 2.

“…and also upon the inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are made, and on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God; and as a fruit thereof keeping the heart both humble and holy.”

Scripture Lookup

2 Peter 1:4,5,10,11
Romans 8:15,16
1 John 3:1-3

Reflection

Our assurance of being in a state of grace is founded upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is the rock to which we cling, rather than to our own guesses. However, we have more than Jesus’ perfect life and sacrifice to give us confidence that we are saved. The graces that regenerate us manifest themselves to us. The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are adopted by God.

The saving graces that God has granted to believers do not lie hidden. Faith enables the soul to be “cast upon the truth thus believed”, as the Confession put is in chapter 14. Sanctification battles the remaining corruption within. Repentance produces sorrow for one’s sin, a hatred of it, and a plea for forgiveness. Through this desire to please God, through the struggle against sin, and through supplication for strength to continue the fight, the believer sees that a change has been wrought in her.

Along with the internal evidence that bolsters assurance, the Holy Spirit witnesses with ours that we are adopted by God. He makes known to believers that we are His children. All the privileges of being in Christ belong to us. We have access to His throne. We are protected, pitied and chastened as children. Comfort is brought to us by the Comforter that we are not cast off.

Such confidence in being saved should never be cause for pride. As the Spirit and the word work in us, we learn even more how lavish God’s love is for us, and how little we deserve it. Arrogance is not in keeping with assurance. May we never boast in our standing, but on the glories and riches of our God.

Questions to Consider

• Is assurance something that you struggle with?

Day 234

Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

Chapter 18, Paragraph 2.

“This certainty is not a bare conjectural, and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith founded on the Blood and Righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel;…”

Scripture Lookup

Hebrews 6:11,19
Hebrews 6:17,18

Reflection

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…

How can a person be certainly sure she’s saved?

Lofty musings of theologians and philosophers do not grant full confidence of salvation. Educated guesses do not produce full confidence. You can’t base your assurance on the odds, for there is always a chance they are not in your favor. Such hope is capable of error.

The assurance a believer has is not speculative or theoretical. Our confidence rests on the utter reality that Jesus lived, lived perfectly, and died in the place of His people. This assurance is incapable of error. God Himself has lived and died for you, you to whom He has granted faith and repentance. You are His, and He is yours.

…all other ground is sinking sand. -Edward Mote

Questions to Consider

• On what do you base your assurance? Are you basing your confidence in guesses, or do you have the infallible assurance of faith?

Day 233

Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

Chapter 18, Paragraph 1.

“Although temporary Believers, and other unregenerate men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes, and carnal presumptions, of being in the favor of God, and state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish; yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good Conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of Grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God which hope shall never make them ashamed.”

Scripture Lookup

Job 8:13,14

Matthew 7:22,23

1 John 2:3, 3:14,18,19,21,24, 5:13

Romans 5:2,5

Reflection

They are among you. Going through the motions, confident in their assumption, and claiming Christ are people who are not regenerate at all. If they can deceive themselves, what about us? How can we have assurance that we are graciously saved?

It is possible to be certain of your salvation. The marks of a true believer laid out in this paragraph of the Confession are: belief, love, and striving. Do you believe Jesus to be fully God and fully man, the mediator between God and man? Does this knowledge cause affection towards Him, and a desire to please Him? Is this desire acted upon to produce good works? When all the components are there, we need not be agitated as to the state of our soul.

Confidently rest assured that you are in Christ, but do not take it for granted. Examine yourselves periodically: am I sincere? Do I believe in Jesus? Am I endeavoring to follow His commands? Affirmations to these questions enable us to rejoice at the glory of God, who saves sinners such as ourselves! Such hope will not disappoint.

Questions to Consider

• Are you assuming your salvation, or are you certain of your salvation?