Some people think that when God forgave you, He only forgave you the sins you committed up until the point you're saved, and from then on, those aren't forgiven. There is confusion about grace, there is confusion about mercy, there is confusion about the degree and the extent of forgiveness in Christ. And as long as you're confused about that, you have reason to doubt your salvation. Welcome to Grace to You, featuring the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.
Twenty-nine years after Japan surrendered and World War II officially ended, one Japanese soldier, Hiro Onada, was still fighting. Convinced that the enemy was circulating false rumors of a ceasefire, he hid in the jungle in the Philippines until 1974, refusing to surrender.
Now you may find Hero's story bewildering. It certainly was foolish to keep fighting. But in a sense that's what each of us does when we fight to earn salvation, when we don't accept God's forgiveness by faith alone. Keep that in mind today as we continue John MacArthur's series on Myths About Salvation, looking at the war against your sin that Christ has already won and the surrender He calls you to. With today's lesson now, here's John.
Why do people who are Christians lack assurance? I'm going to give you several reasons, okay? 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. 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'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. The heart of a person with a strong, compelling conscience. The heart of a person with a strong understanding of holiness, righteousness, and the law of God.
The heart of a person who understands justice. May find it difficult. To accept Forgiveness. By the way, May I suggest to you as a footnote? The people who feel that way have willingly crowned the devil king.
That's right. You have crowned the devil king. Because the devil Is the accuser Of whom? The brethren The devil Speaks. of guilt.
He speaks of violation of a holy standard. He speaks of Violation of the law of God. He speaks of justice, and he will tell you: you're too bad to be forgiven. You belong to me. And if you buy it, you crown him king.
And you say, guilt rules, condemnation rules, sin rules. Christ is not king. Grace does not rule. Mercy does not rule. Forgiveness does not rule.
Believe me, Satan wants to do this. Satan wants you to doubt your salvation. That is why you have to put on the helmet. Um Salvation. to protect your head.
from the smashing crushing blows of Satan who wants you to doubt. One Puritan writer Protests. Yea, further. He that lacks assurance of God's love converses too much with Satan. As he that has the assurance of God's love converses with Christ, the Spirit bearing witness to him that he's a child of God, so he that lacks assurance converses with Satan.
And Satan, though falsely, bears witness to his Spirit that he is not a child of God. And is it not a misery to be in these conversations with Satan, to be under his hellish droppings? Oh, what a pain it is then to lie bedridden of an unbelieving heart. The devil is always following and tempting me to suspect the love of Christ. And he does it that he may attain his mind upon me.
For the devil knows well enough that the more I suspect Christ's love, the more I shall embrace Satan's love. The truth is, beloved, this lack of assurance of God's love or interest in Christ is an inlet to many sins and miseries. For first a man doubts of his own salvation. Afterwards, he has continued doubting. Then he rises up unto a full conclusion, saying, Now know I that Christ does not love me.
I did but doubt before, but now I know he does not love me. And after he has risen to this conclusion, then shortly he rises higher and he goes further, thus: If Christ does not love me now, he will never love me. And if I have not an interest in Christ now, after all the preaching I have heard and ordinances I have enjoyed, I shall never have it. And so the longer I live, the more I shall aggravate my condemnation. End quote.
If you crown Satan king, Let him crush your head. With the law. and your guilt. And justice You will doubt. You will doubt.
Both strong preaching. of a high and holy standard. and a refusal to accept forgiveness. caused people to death. There's a third reason why people don't have assurance.
That is this.
Some lack assurance because they do not comprehend the gospel. and the plan of salvation. They do not comprehend the gospel. and the plan of salvation. I said to you that there are people who say nobody should have assurance.
Remember that? And that fits their theology. Because they say salvation is a combination of God and man, so how can I have assurance? I could have assurance about God, but I have no assurance about me, so I can't have assurance about my salvation, which demands my cooperation. I simply remind you that if you have a faulty doctrine of the gospel and a faulty understanding of the plan of salvation, you invite.
Doubt. There are many people. Who do not understand, first of all, that salvation is an utterly divine, totally sovereign operation by God on man. Which depends on God.
Solely Some people do not understand grace.
Some people think that when God forgave you, He only forgave you the sins you committed up until the point you're saved, and from then on, those aren't forgiven. There is confusion about grace. There is confusion about mercy. There is confusion about the degree and the extent of forgiveness in Christ. And as long as you're confused about that, you have reason to doubt your salvation.
People like that, who are confused about the gospel, have moments of assurance. that are induced by a feeling of well-being. They feel okay about their spiritual condition. It's the same kind of feeling you get when you just had a good meal. Purely a an emotional feeling.
By the way, your feelings, no matter how powerful they are, how vivid they are, are not safe storehouses to guard your assurance. Your feelings cannot guard your assurance. Your assurance has to be grounded in a proper understanding of the gospel. And the saving work of Christ. Listen, you will never have subjective feelings of assurance until you comprehend the objective truth of the gospel.
This is a very profound thing, I'm telling you. You will never have subjective feelings of assurance until you understand the objective facts of the gospel. That is so basic. Dr. Harry Ironsides many years ago said, You may never be able to forget the years of wandering, the many sins of which you have been guilty.
and continue to commit. But that which gives peace is the knowledge that God will never recall them again. He has blotted them from the book of his remembrance, and he has done it in righteousness, for the account is completely settled, the debt is paid. End quote. Now if you understand that That security, and that security objectively gives rise to.
Assurance subjectively. See, you have to understand the gospel. You have to understand that God knew you were a sinner, that God sent Jesus Christ into the world to completely, totally pay the price for all your sins, past, present, and future, and to remove them as far as the east is from the west, and bury them in the depths of the sea and remember them no more, and they are eternally a non-issue. You have to understand that the salvation Jesus offered was secured by the omnipotent power of God forever. and is irreversible.
As Romans 11 says, the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. You have to understand. What has An ancient Ancient Beginning. Way back in the Old Testament, Isaiah said. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.
Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be as wool. In other words, when God forgives you, it is complete. You are washed. Totally.
Chapter 53.
Now we get into The death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how it was that God could do that? How could God look away from our sin, forget our sin, blot them out, wipe them out? Because of Christ. Look at Isaiah 53.
Verse five. He was pierced through for your transgressions and mine. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. In verse 8, it says, He died. For the transgression of my people He bore Our Iniquities. Says verse 11.
When Israel of old was about to leave Egypt. And the last awful plague was about to fall on the land and its people, the death of the firstborn. You remember that God provided a way of escape for his people. They were to slay a lamb. And then they were to take the blood of the Lamb and sprinkle it on the doorpost and the lintel of the crosspiece.
And when the angel of death, the destroying angel, passed through that night, he wasn't permitted to enter any of those blood-sprinkled houses. Why? Because God had said, when I see the blood, I will... Pass Over you. That's what Passover means.
Inside the house. There might have been some Families rejoicing. There might have been some families shaking. Worried because they'd committed sins. Because they had been iniquitous.
Because they had cheated their Jewish neighbors. Even in exile. Because they had committed adultery or fornication. Because they had robbed. Because they were hypocrites.
But their security depended. Not on their frame of mind. Not on their feelings. Not on the record of their past deeds. But on the fact That God Saw What?
The blood. And when he saw the blood, They were protected.
So it is today. We can't see the blood shed so long ago for our redemption on Calvary. But God can see it. And he looks at you, he doesn't say, Hey, he cheated. Ay, she lied.
Hey, they committed adultery. Hey, they were hypocrites. Hey. They lacked kindness Hey, they indulged in drunkenness. The moment a sinner puts his faith or her faith in Jesus Christ.
The blood. is spread. Across them. They're sheltered. By the blood.
And henceforth, Our security from divine judgment. Depends. Not on my perfect life or yours. But on the blessed fact That I am sheltered by the blood of Christ. Amen.
And so Some people lack assurance because they don't understand the gospel. And you cannot understand assurance. If you can't understand... Security. Listen to this.
Security is the fact. Objective fact. That all who are forgiven by grace in Christ Jesus are forgiven forever. It is irrevocable. That's security.
Let me say it again. Security is the fact that all who are forgiven are forgiven forever. And you can have security and not have assurance, right? A lot of people do. I say that to people who don't believe you can have assurance.
They say, oh, I don't know that my salvation is secure.
Well, fine. You have security.
Sorry, you can't enjoy it. You can deny it all you want, you still have it. You can live in doubt all you want. You're still secure. Security is the objective fact that all who are forgiven by grace in Christ are forgiven forever.
It is irrevocable. Assurance is the confidence that I am one of those forgiven.
So Yeah. If God has given me a salvation that is secure, I Should Certainly enjoy that assurance. Assurance is a conviction then, first of all, that's rational. Romans 8. And I want to show you this because this is a good place to wrap up.
Verse 38, this is so direct. For I am What's the next word? Convinced. Oh. That's a rational word.
It's not a feeling word. He doesn't say, you know, I feel that neither death nor life. Nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God. I just feel it. He doesn't say that.
He says, I am convinced. I am persuaded. By what? By reason. By reason of what?
And he says, did you start the book at this verse? You haven't read chapter 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7? And eight? I am convinced because I understand what? The gospel.
which he started to unfold in chapter three. He says, I'm certain it's so. And I mean, it's a stronger statement. on security in the whole Bible. I am convinced that neither death nor life.
nor angels, nor principalities. demonic beings, nor things present, Everything that currently exists, nor things to come, everything that might exist, nor powers of any kind, nor. Anything in the height, nor anything in the depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I'm convinced. That is the ground of assurance.
You must understand the gospel. It is convincing.
Now if Paul was an Arminian He would have said, you know. I'm not convinced. That uh death nor life uh But he was convinced. How did he get convinced?
Well If you start in chapter 3, you find out. The whole saving gospel. And it climaxes in chapter 8. I can just give you a quick look. He comes roaring into chapter 8.
After unfolding the eternal forgiveness in the mercy and the grace of Jesus Christ, and he lands in chapter 8, verse 1, it says, There is therefore now no condemnation. For those who are in Christ Jesus. That's exactly what he said in verse 38. Nothing is ever going to condemn you. There isn't any.
There isn't any. Well, how can you say that, Paul? How can I say it? Verse 2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. You have Christ, you have the Spirit.
The law has no claim, and its penalty has no claim. You'll never be condemned. Wow. And then verse five. He starts talking about the Holy Spirit.
He doesn't stop talking about the Holy Spirit until verse 17. This one theme. And all through here, he says, when we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit to seal us, to guarantee our future glory, to guarantee our present righteousness. Verse 14. We're being led by the Spirit.
Verse 16: The Spirit is bearing witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. Then starting in verse 18 through verse 25, he says, We now live in the hope of future glory. And in verses 26 to 28, he says, The Holy Spirit is working in us. God is working for us. And no matter what happens, it works together for our what?
are good. You see what he's doing here? He's saying salvation eliminated us in Christ from the penalty of sin, no condemnation. Salvation granted us the Holy Spirit to secure us and lead us and confirm we are God's children. Salvation has given us an eternal hope for which we wait.
God over us and the Spirit in us are taking everything in our lives and working them together for good. Then he gets real theological in verse 29. And he goes all the way from foreknowledge to glorification in verse 30 and says, Everybody the Lord foreknew and chose to salvation will come to glory. And then he comes to verse 31. And he says, look.
If God is for us, who in the world is a higher court than that? If God's predestined purpose to make us into the image of Jesus Christ can't be thwarted, if God doesn't condemn us, if Christ doesn't condemn us, then who is going to condemn us? Verse 35, he says, who's going to separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? Say, where'd he get that list?
He lived it. He lived that list. Tribulation, he had it. Distress, he had it. Persecution, he had it.
Famine, he had it. Nakedness, he had it. Peril, he had it. Sword, he had it. In fact, he was being put to death all day long.
But in all of these things, we overwhelmingly what? Conquer. You know why this man says in verse 38, I am convinced? Hey. He lived it.
I'm convinced my salvation is secure. I am convinced. Why? Because I took it all. I got the whole deal.
The tribulation, the distress, the persecution, the famine, the nakedness, the peril, the sword, and when it was all done. I was a conqueror. Not a victim. I'm convinced. I'm convinced.
There is no condemnation? The indwelling Holy Spirit moves us on the path of righteousness. We have a future hope of glory. for which we wait. All things are working together in our lives for good.
Everybody that he saved, he will bring to full glory. And I've been through it all. And nothing. Separated me from the love of Christ. And now I'm convinced.
If you are convinced that salvation is eternal. and nothing can break it. That's the ground of your assurance, right? Security then. Is the Holy Spirit revealed truth that salvation is forever?
Assurance is the confidence that I possess that salvation. Paul is saying here, I have both. I know the salvation in Christ. By revelation. I've just written it down.
I know I'm in Christ. Bye. Testing. Right? I've had it all.
And nothing. separated me from his love. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. His current series is titled Myths About Salvation.
Well, we are seven days into this four week study and already we've covered a lot of ground. To review the messages again or to catch up on parts you may have missed, you can download the MP3s and read the transcripts at our website. And to let us know how God is using grace to you in your life, contact us today. Email your note to letters at gty dot org. That's our email address, letters at gty dot org.
Or you can send a physical letter addressed to GRACETOU, Post Office Box 4000. Panorama City, California. 91412. And again, you can download the lesson you heard today on Reasons People Lack Assurance. Along with the rest of the Myths About Salvation audio study in MP3 and in transcript format.
They're available to you at gty.org. Keep in mind there is a lot of content in those lessons that we didn't have time to air on the radio.
So log on to gty.org today and take in the full sermons. Also remember that our website has over 3,600 of John MacArthur's messages available in MP3 and transcript format. They cover the entire New Testament and many portions of the Old, so start downloading today at gty.org.
Now, for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here tomorrow as we continue John MacArthur's look at Myths About Salvation. He'll show you how trials prove God's love for his children. Don't miss the next 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time. on Grace to You.
