Some people have assurance, but they have no right to have it. It is false assurance. It is false peace. It is a false security. Such false assurances Dangerous.
Deceitful. Deadly and damning. Yeah. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.
The Bible says that salvation is a gift, something you can't earn. But how do you know the gift is yours? How can you be one hundred per cent sure you're going to heaven? That's the question John MacArthur tackles today on this Labor Day edition of Grace to You. If you doubt whether you're saved, let me urge you to listen to what John has to say about what he calls myths about salvation.
That's the title of his study. And even if you're confident that your salvation is real, today's message can help you be sure you're confident for the right reasons.
So now, here is today's lesson. Let me begin reading. In verse 5. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 5.
Now, for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence. And in your moral excellence, knowledge. And in your knowledge, self-control. And in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, They render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, Be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
Now out of those verses, I want to draw your attention to one phrase in verse 10. Be all the more diligent. to make certain about his calling. and choosing you. I suppose that all of us as Christians have moments somewhere along in our Christian experience when we are not certain if we're saved.
There are those times when doubts enter our minds.
Sometimes they are but fleeting moments.
Sometimes they last a long time.
Sometimes they almost seem a way of life.
Sometimes they can plunge someone into despair, despondency. from which they find it impossible to lift themselves. There are many people. Who have Publicly confess Jesus Christ. who lack the assurance of God's love.
Who lacked? The assurance and confidence of eternal life. Who are not certain they have been called and not certain they have been chosen, they are not certain they are saved. One of the pastoral duties that has belonged to pastors since New Testament times. has been this matter of trying to help people Understand.
the truth about their spiritual condition. Doubts about one's salvation are common. in the life of many Christians. And that in spite of everything God has said.
Now there is a remarkable verse that I might draw from the Old Testament, you might want to jot it down, you'll probably want to refer to it. Isaiah 32, 17. And Isaiah 32, 17 says this. The work of righteousness. Shall be peace.
And the effect of righteousness Quietness and assurance Forever. Let me read it again. The work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness Quietness. and assurance Forever.
What Isaiah is saying is where God grants righteousness With it comes peace. and assurance. In fact, The New Testament writers speak of assurance in rather superlative terms. Colossians 2.2 talks about full assurance. 1 Thessalonians 1, 5 talks about much assurance.
Hebrews 6, 11 says the full assurance of hope, and Hebrews 10, 22 says the full assurance. A face. Full assurance three times. Much assurance. And God who grants us righteousness with it grants assurance.
And though the New Testament and the Old Testament talk about assurance, And though assurance is associated with our hope in Christ and our faith in Christ and with righteousness, and though assurance is given to us by God, Nonetheless, there are many Christian people who lack it.
Now before we talk about our text. And that is the solution. to those who lack assurance. And before we even talk about the matters prior to the text, which are the reasons why people lack assurance. There are two other issues that I must address.
if we're going to really get a grip on this subject of assurance. The first one is this.
Some people Have assurance. But they have no right to have it.
Some people have assurance, but they have no right to have it. It is false assurance. It is false peace. It is a false security. Such False assurances.
Dangerous. Deceitful. Deadly and damning. Because it mistakes one's true spiritual condition. Put it simply.
Everybody talking about heaven ain't going there. There are some people. Who have a feeling that all is well between them and God, and it isn't. You can be assured that False religionists, false prophets, false teachers would like to give people that feeling, and so would Satan and his emissaries. Jesus knew it.
That's why in Matthew 7 he said, Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, Matthew 7:21, and I will say to them, Depart from me, I never knew you. Which will be a great jolt to them since they probably have false assurance. That is why the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11: every time you come to the Lord's table, examine yourself. That is why he repeated again in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Because there are people who have assurance, but they have no right to it.
You say, how did they get it?
Well, somebody. Gave them some information about salvation. Which was not true. And they believed that, and because they believed what they think is truth, they feel secure. There are other people who misjudge their spiritual condition.
They know the truth. And they think they have really believed the truth, but they haven't. In fact. Much of our modern-day evangelism contributes to this false hope by using a technique that. I would like to call syllogistic assurance.
Now, I don't want to lose you all on that term. A syllogism. It's simply a A form of logic. It has a major premise and a minor premise that leads to a conclusion. And modern American evangelicalism has been giving people syllogistic assurance for many, many years.
It goes like this. John 1:12 might be a starting place just to tie it into a specific verse. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name.
So you say to someone, did you receive him? Yeah. Major premise? Anyone who receives him becomes his child. Did you do that?
Yes, minor premise, you just did that. Conclusion, you're his child. Major premise says if you receive Christ, you'll be his child. Minor premise says you just did that. Conclusion says you're his child.
Say, well, that's logical. It is. It is. The problem is You don't know whether the minor premise is true. You don't know whether they just did that.
You say, well, they just said they did that. That's different. You don't know if they did that. The Puritans would say, Tested, then trusted. You don't know if they did that until they're tested.
This is an appeal to a logical syllogism. If you know the facts of the gospel, and minor premise, you believe the facts of the gospel, therefore, you're a Christian. This, by the way, is a major component of contemporary evangelism. An appeal to a logical Syllogism based on an untested profession. Which is a faulty minor premise.
We are basing assurance on a bare inference. Not confirmed by the Holy Spirit, we have no Holy Spirit confirmation, and not confirmed by any testing. The truth of assurance is the reward of tested and proven faith. The Holy Spirit gives it, not a human counselor.
Some people have assurance when they shouldn't have it, then, because somebody gave them a false gospel, they believed it, and then they believed they're saved.
Some people have a false assurance because somebody told them their faith was real when, in fact, it may not have been.
So we need to understand, then, first of all, in this matter of assurance, that some people have it who have absolutely no right to it. Secondly, there's another preliminary issue that I want to share with you and that is this.
Some people think no one has a right to assurance. Not even a true Christian. In fact, some people think it is presumption. To imagine that you are secure It is presumption to be assured of your security. in Christ.
They say it'll lead to indifference. It'll lead to carelessness. It'll lead you to sin. It'll lead you to unholiness. This is the historical Arminian view.
Which basically says, if I thought I was secure forever, then I'd go out and do anything I wanted. Have you heard that? That's an old one. You can't possibly let anybody think their salvation is secure because they'll abuse the privileges. Because, after all, they can't lose their salvation, so, why not live any way you want?
That's not only an Arminian view, by the way, that's a Roman Catholic view. That's what Roman Catholicism has always taught. Canons and decrees of the Council of Trent go like this. Quoting No one can know with a certainty of faith. Which cannot be subject to error that he has obtained the grace of God.
No one Moreover, so long as he is in this mortal life, ought so far to presume as regards the secret mystery of divine predestination as to determine for certain that he is assuredly in the number of the predestinate. For except by special revelation it cannot be known whom God hath chosen unto himself. If anyone saith that a man who is born again and justified is bound of faith to believe that he is assuredly in the number of the predestinate, let him be anathema.
So says the Catholic Church. Though the Council of Trent was held in the 16th century, The teaching of the church on this point has not changed. As evidence, I quote The following from a Roman Catholic dictionary of theology, this is what it says. Certainty of salvation. Heading A concept of Protestant theology which signifies a belief in justification so firm that this belief is inconsistent with any doubt of a man's ultimate salvation.
Such a certainty of salvation, which Catholic theology describes as absolute, was repudiated by the Council of Trent because whereas the Christian is absolutely forbidden to doubt what God has done in Jesus Christ or to doubt his universal salvific will, this does not exclude all possible doubt of one's own eternal salvation. End quote. G.C. Burkauer in his book Conflict with Rome takes some pains to show that Rome's denial of the assurance of salvation is consistent with its conception of the nature of salvation. It is precisely, he says, because the Roman Catholic Church conceives of salvation as a joint effort by man and God, and as a blessing which can only be maintained through the doing of good works, that it must say to the believer, you can never be absolutely sure of your salvation.
For, if one's assurance of salvation must be based on one's performance of good works, the most he or she can attain is the kind of conjectural certainty which Roman Catholic theology allows. Why? Because if my salvation depends on God and me, I might mess up.
So where you have in Roman Catholic theology Man involved in salvation, or where you have in Arminian theology, man involved in salvation, you have the absence of security. Because man can default. But where you have in historic biblical theology where salvation is all the work of God, you have the concomitant doctrine of security, which leads to. Assurance. The basic question involved here is whether one is saved by grace alone or whether one's salvation depends in part on his or her meritorious good works.
If the latter is true, one can never be sure of salvation. If, however, the former is true, as the reformers taught, then one can be sure of salvation even though he or she may not always be in full possession of that assurance.
So Some would feel we can never be sure. Then leave it at that. And they say that helps them live a good life because they have to keep living a good life or they might lose their salvation. Basically, they deny assurance altogether.
Now We Make those two points clear.
Some people have assurance who have no right to it.
Some people deny that anybody can have assurance. But let us concentrate. on the truth about assurance, all right? True assurance. As scripture Teaches it.
Not false believing. True assurance. What we want to achieve is exactly what it says in verse. Ten. When our series is through, We want you to be certain.
About his calling and choosing you. We want you without a Hint. of doubt. to say I am among the predestinate. I am among the elect.
I am chosen, I am called. I am eternally secure. And I enjoy my Assurance. But before we can solve the problem, we've got to introduce it.
So, I want to ask just a basic question. Why do people lack assurance? Why do people lack assurance? Well, obviously, we could answer that by saying, well, some of them don't have salvation. That's why they don't feel secure.
You're right. But let's go beyond that. Why do people who are Christians lack assurance? I'm gonna give you several reasons, okay? Number one.
Uh and By the way, this is not an inspired list. This is just my own. Thinking as I've been pouring through these scriptures for about the last six months. Getting ready for this series. Why do people Lack assurance.
Reason number one. And there might be more. And they might be better stated, but This will help us. Number one, some might lack assurance because of being under strong preaching on God's holy standard.
Some might lack assurance. Because of being under strong preaching on God's holy standard. What do you mean by that?
Well, what I mean is demanding preaching. Confrontive preaching. Convicting preaching that holds up a high standard of holiness. The kind of preaching that forces people to see their sinfulness. That forces them to acknowledge the holiness of God.
That calls them to a lofty standard of Christian living. May lead Some to a lack of assurance. You say, well, is that bad? No. No, not really.
The pulpit is rightly the creator of anxious hearts. That is one of its duties. For it must. Convict. Those who have a false assurance, right?
It must confront sin. It must call for the highest and holiest standard. And by virtue of all of those mandates, It may have the effect Of destabilizing some people and making them waver about the reality of their spiritual condition. Because they compare themselves with that standard and say, I'm so woefully short of that, maybe I'm not even a Christian. demanding preaching.
convicting preaching, strong preaching. That sets the high and holy standard for the saved brings along a strong conviction of sin, which can produce doubt, particularly in a sinning Christian. Particularly in a sinning Christian.
Now can I tell you? Having said all of that, This rarely happens. Today, why? Because there's rarely any convicting preaching. Churches across our country are filled with smug people.
They don't feel particularly insecure because nothing in their life is ever confronted. It rarely happens because preaching is neither convicting nor strong. Nor does preaching. necessarily set a particularly high standard. If you were to ask the Average Sort of Collection of preachers, if they've ever preached messages on assurance of salvation, it might be a rare thing to find one who did.
And if you found one who said, Yes, I've preached on assurance, he would probably tell you, What I preached was a message to make everybody feel assured. And what he probably did was give them a little more of that syllogistic assurance. About the only time the subject comes up, it seems to me, is to argue with people who are unwilling to give syllogistic assurance. The only time I ever get into a discussion of this is when people want to argue with me because they want to give people psychological assurance so they'll feel so comfortable about themselves that they will never question their spiritual condition. The whole idea when you lead someone to Christ for many years in America is now the first responsibility you have once they've prayed the prayer is to make sure that you make them feel assured.
So you say to them, Doesn't it say if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we know we have eternal life? You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Major premise, it says that. Minor premise says you believe, conclusion, you're saved.
Now Feel secure, feel assured. Don't worry about it. About the only time anybody talks about assurance, it's to make people feel assured. Not to make them question whether their assurance is a false one. In fact, I suppose Because of that, fewer people today struggle with assurance because the teaching lacks a strong call to holiness, and the preachers feel it's their duty to make everybody feel good.
But on the other hand, convicting preaching can create doubt. No question.
So the pulpit. If it has the luxury of being the creator, of anxiety. of anxious hearts. The pulpit must also be the creator of comfort. It must be the place of assurance.
J.I. Packer said, and I believe rightly so, the preaching of the word is the supreme means of grace. The preaching of the word is the supreme means of grace. There's a second reason people lack assurance.
Some might lack assurance because they can't accept forgiveness. They are tyrannized by their emotions, and they feel they are too bad to be saved.
Some people just can't accept forgiveness.
Now there are some reasons for this. I'll give them to you. These are pretty practical. Let me suggest this. There are three reasons.
I'll just give them to you separately. The reason some people feel They can't accept forgiveness. They feel too bad to be saved, too sinful to be forgiven. is number one. because conscience speaks against forgiveness.
Did you get that? Your conscience doesn't know anything about forgiveness. Understood? The only thing your conscience knows about is what? Guilt.
Conviction. Your conscience knows nothing about grace. Your conscience knows nothing about mercy. Your conscience knows nothing about forgiveness. In fact, your conscience speaks against forgiveness.
It is your conscience that says to you, you're too bad to be forgiven. There's a second. rather compelling impulse. that causes some people to be unable to accept forgiveness, and that is this. Holiness And the law of God speaks against forgiveness.
And it speaks against sin so strongly. Listen, holiness knows nothing of forgiveness. The law of God, nothing of forgiveness. Holiness speaks against sin and knows nothing of excusing it. Righteousness speaks against sin and knows nothing of excusing it.
The law of God speaks against sin and knows nothing of excusing it. There's a third rather compelling Matter? That is justice. Justice Speaks against sin. And justice knows nothing of forgiveness either.
They're ganging up on you folks. If you struggle with Doubt about your salvation, and you say, I just can't accept forgiveness. I'm just too bad to be forgiven. I'm too wicked to be saved. I am, as that gentleman said in the letter, A pile of manure on the white marble floor of Christ.
I'm too filthy, I'm too vile. It is because conscience will deny you forgiveness, holiness will deny you forgiveness, righteousness will deny you forgiveness, law will deny you forgiveness, justice will deny you forgiveness, and as long as you hang around that group, you'll have trouble. With forgiveness. This is Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. John's current study is titled Myths About Salvation.
Now as you listened to today's lesson, perhaps you wondered how common is it for believers to lack assurance?
Well, we asked John that question a while back, as well as what might cause that doubt. His answer is helpful for anyone having doubts about his or her salvation. Here's what John said.
Well, it is very common for believers to lack assurance, but I have to say it's not a common problem in a church where sound doctrine is proclaimed, where a clear understanding of the gospel is taught. I think Doubt about salvation very often comes to people who haven't really understood the fullness of the gospel. and haven't even really understood the heart of God as revealed in Scripture? biblically literate biblically taught Christians. don't struggle nearly so much.
with doubt about their salvation as those who haven't been taught.
So look, you might say, well, I go to a church for the music, I go to a church for the social fellowship. That's fine. but when you come to grapple with the deep realities of your spiritual life, That's not going to help. You need to be in a place Where you're going to be lifted beyond doubts. You're going to be lifted to a place of sound free.
Firm doctrinal understanding, trust in the God who is revealed in Scripture. But I want to help you. We have a book called Saved Without a Doubt, How to Be Sure of Your Salvation. Is that good news? The book, again, Save Without a Doubt, How to Be Sure of Your Salvation, 220 pages, soft cover, available from Grace to You.
Great encouragement for a new convert or someone who's been plagued by doubts. Friend, if you're stuck in a cycle of spiritual doubt, or you know someone who is, I urge you to pick up a copy of Saved Without a Doubt. It's great not only for people who wrestle with the question, am I saved? It's also ideal for mature believers who want to help others find assurance.
Now, if you've never contacted us before, we will send you saved without a doubt free of charge, so request your copy today. You can reach us by phone at 80055 GRACE and call us during regular business hours. That's 7:30 to 4 o'clock Pacific Time. The title to ask for again, Saved Without a Doubt. Again, it's yours free if it's your first time contacting us.
Ask for it when you call 800-55GRACE or you can also email your request to letters at gty.org. If you've contacted us before, Saved Without a Doubt costs $10.50 and shipping is free. To order, call 855 Grace or you can order from our website gty.org. And while you're at the website, remember you can download any of John MacArthur's sermons free of charge in MP3 and transcript format. There are more than 3,600 messages available in our sermon archive, including those from John's current study, Myths About Salvation.
Our website again. gty.org.
Now for the entire Grace TU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for starting your week with us and join us again tomorrow to see the role forgiveness has in your assurance of salvation. We're continuing John MacArthur's series, Myths About Salvation. with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time. on Grace to You.
