CAN YOU KNOW FOR SURE THAT YOU ARE

ETERNALLY SAVED AND SECURE?  (Pt. 2)

The Doctrine of Eternal Security Part 13

 by Dennis Rokser

 

An outspoken proponent of the false gospel of Lordship Salvation[1] included in a booklet titled, “A Believer’s Assurance,” the following tragic letter.

 

"Dear John, I've been attending Grace Church for several years.  As a result of a growing conviction in my heart, your preaching, and my seeming powerlessness against the temptations which arise in my heart and which I constantly succumb to, my growing doubts have led me to believe that I'm not saved.

 

"How sad it is, John, for me not to be able to enter in because of the sin which clings to me and from which I long to be free.   How bizarre for one who has had advanced biblical training and who teaches in Sunday School with heartfelt conviction!  So many times I have determined in my heart to repent, to shake loose my desire to sin, to forsake all for Jesus only to find myself doing the sin I don't want to do and not doing the good I want to do.

 

"After my fiancée and I broke up I memorized Ephesians as part of an all-out effort against sin, only to find myself weaker and more painfully aware of my sinfulness, more prone to sin than ever before, and grabbing cheap thrills to push back the pain of lost love.  This occurs mostly in the heart, John, but that's where it counts and that's where we live. I sin because I'm a sinner.  I'm like a soldier without armor running across a battlefield getting shot up by fiery darts from the enemy.

"I couldn't leave the church if I wanted to. I love the people and I'm enthralled by the gospel of the beautiful Messiah. But I'm a pile of manure on the white marble floor of Christ, a mongrel dog that sneaked in the back door of the King's banquet to lick the crumbs off the floor, and, by being close to Christians who are rich in the blessings of Christ, I get some of the overflow and ask you to pray for me as you think best.”[2]

 

Does God want a believer to know for sure that he has been saved from hell and possesses eternal life?  Or does God want a child of God repeatedly to doubt, constantly evaluate, and emotionally torment himself regarding his eternal destiny?  Can a believer have absolute assurance that he has trusted in Jesus Christ and is going to heaven when he dies?  Can he be sure that his sins are washed away and that his name is written in the Lamb’s book of life?  These are the crucial questions we will once again examine in this article.  Last time we considered…

 

 

WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR A BELIEVER’S ASSURANCE OF ETERNAL SECURITY?

 

1.      The absolute assurance of eternal salvation is based on the finished work of JESUS CHRIST.

 

2.      The absolute assurance of eternal salvation is based on the unfailing and sure PROMISES OF GOD.

 

Having considered the two objective bases for absolute assurance of salvation for the believer in Christ, let us search the Scriptures to find…

 

 

WHAT ARE SOME EVIDENCES OF A BELIEVER’S REGENERATION?

 

While “justification” is God’s divine announcement that the believer in Christ has been declared righteous before Him, “regeneration” is the gracious act of God in imparting divine life to the believing sinner.  This new birth (John 3:3, 7) results in the impartation of a new nature (2 Peter 1:4) and a new Resident – the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) and a new Life – Jesus Christ –(Colossians 1:27, 3:4) that is fitting for a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) with a new destiny (1 Peter 1:3-5).  All of this occurs when a sinner believes the Gospel of God’s grace (Romans 1:16-17, Ephesians 1:3) and is designed so that the believer “should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4) and “should serve in newness of Spirit” (Romans 7:6).  While a birth certificate gives objective assurance of the reality of a physical birth, there are also subjective indicators that provide empirical evidence of physical life – the baby gets hungry; he cries; he grows; etc.  In the same manner, while the title deed of salvation is the unfailing promises of God because of the finished work of Christ, there are subjective evidences of spiritual life – the believer has a desire for the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2); he cries “Abba Father” (Galatians 4:6); he normally grows in grace (1 John 2:12-14); etc.

 

Indicators such as these provide evidence to others of one’s salvation.  And these observable testimonies of one’s new life in Christ caused the apostle John to write,

 

If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.  (1 John 2:29)

 

The late Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer comments regarding the believer’s assurance of salvation by writing,

 

 “There is a normal Christian experience.  There are new and blessed emotions and desires.  Old things do pass away, and behold all things do become new; but all such experiences are but secondary evidences, as to the fact of salvation, in that they grow out of that positive repose of faith which is the primary evidence.”[3]

We do well to distinguish in this matter of assurance between the primary bases of assurance and the secondary evidences.  This is needed in the physical realm as living children may be born with birth defects, or later manifest certain disorders that cause stunted growth or bodily malfunction.  Likewise in the spiritual realm, there are carnal Christians (1 Corinthians 3:1) who experience stunted spiritual growth (1 Corinthians 3:2) which manifests itself by walking like the unsaved (1 Corinthians 3:3), thus, blurring at times any empirical evidence of their relationship to Jesus Christ.

 

In understanding and underscoring the distinction between the primary bases of assurance in contrast to its secondary evidences, Dr. Chafer again writes,

 

 “Such a precious experience as is described by these passages may become clouded by sin or lost in the depression of some physical weakness, and were we depending upon the experience as primary evidence that we are saved, all grounds of assurance would be swept away.  The primary evidence is clearly stated in the same Epistle as the final word of testing here given and the final grounds of confidence:

 

"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath the life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.  These things (about having the life) have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:9-13). 

 

The possession of the indwelling Son of God is the abiding fact of the newly created life in Him, and should never be confused with some imperfect and changeable experience in the daily life.”[4]

 

Another secondary evidence of a person’s salvation is set forth by the writer of the book of Hebrews.

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  (Hebrews 12:5-8)

 

Verse 7 makes it clear that genuine believers in Christ experience the loving chastisement of God in their lives, while unbelievers and religious professors do not.  God’s child training (or the lack thereof) distinguishes a “bastard” from a “son.”

 

What are the fundamental problems with making these evidences the basis of assurance instead of the secondary indicator of salvation?

 

1)      These secondary evidences are subjective and experiential.

 

How much desire for the Word of God and how often before I can know for sure that I have been saved?  What if I’m not growing?  Am I truly saved?  What about when I do not love the brethren?  What about when my love for Christ wanes?  What about the carnal Christian?  What about the “sin unto death”?  Furthermore, though trusting in a “works” salvation, unsaved religious people may display an interest in the Bible, a willingness to pray, and some change in their lives.  Yet, they are still unregenerate.  Remember what our Lord taught,

 

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.  (Matthew 7:22-23)

 

 

2)      These secondary evidences revolve around the Christian’s walk instead of Christ’s work.

 

There is a great danger in seeking to find assurance based on observing what God is doing IN you (sanctification), instead of believing what God has done FOR you (justification).  Was this not the malady of the hopeless man who wrote the desperate letter to his pastor that I included at the beginning of this article?  Since the believer’s condition or practice is prone to change, should you base the assurance of your salvation on your fluctuating walk or Christ’s finished work on the cross?  If the former was the case, no one could have absolute assurance of salvation the moment he placed his faith in Christ alone.  A time-delay would be necessary in order to discern the reality of salvation evidenced by later fruitfulness.  Is this true?  Must a physical baby walk in order to prove it has life?  Or should it learn to walk because it has life?  Dear readers, let’s not confuse the means of salvation with the intended results of salvation.

 

In his booklet, “Examine Yourself,” Lordship Salvationist John MacArthur Jr. pens,

 

“If you want to know if you’re a Christian, compare your life with the standard Christ presents in the Sermon on the Mount.”[5]

 

Unbelievable!  This erroneous statement is fraught with inexcusable inaccuracies.  First of all, when the Sermon on the Mount was given, there were no “Christians.”  While there were believers who had embraced the Messiah and His Gospel of the Kingdom, only the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13) beginning at Pentecost (Acts 2) would place a believer “into Christ” (Romans 6:3-5) making him a “Christian.”  Interestingly, the term “Christian” is never used in the Gospel narratives, but only in Acts and the Epistles.

 

Secondly, the Sermon on the Mount fails to make even one mention of the cross-work or bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is not until “the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” by the unsaved Christ-rejecting religious leaders of Israel (Matthew 12) and the pronouncement by Jesus Christ that “I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18) that we read,…

From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.  (Matthew 16:21)

 

Even then the apostle Peter (who wasn’t at the moment living according to the Sermon on the Mount but was regenerate) opens his mouth long enough to put his foot in by saying,

 

Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.   (Matthew 16:22-23)

 

Thirdly, scores of believers in Christ could testify of knowing the joy of their sins forgiven without realizing at the time anything about Christ’s teaching on the Sermon on the Mount.  In fact, when I trusted Christ as my Saviour, I believed that Christ died for my sins and rose again to provide for me the gift of eternal life.  God said it; Christ had done it; I believed it; and that settled it.  I was saved by God’s grace.  And I did not even know that there was a “Sermon” or a “Mount!”

 

D.L. Moody, the gifted and down-to-earth evangelist of the nineteenth century, had an uncanny ability of personalizing a scripture verse to a needy heart.  J. Wilbur Chapman, tells the following story of how Moody used John 5:24 to help him gain assurance of salvation.

 

I was studying for the ministry, and I heard that D.L. Moody was to preach in Chicago.  I went down to hear him.  Finally I got into his after meeting.  I shall never forget the thrill that went through me when he came and sat down beside me as an inquirer. He asked me if I was a Christian. I said, "Mr. Moody, I am not sure whether I am a Christian or not."

 

He very kindly took his Bible and opened it at the fifth chapter of John, and the twenty-fourth verse, which reads as follows: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

 

Suppose you had read it through for the first time, wouldn't you think it was wonderful? I read it through, and he said, "Do you believe it?"

 

I said, "Yes."

 

"Do you accept it?" I said, "Yes."

 

"Well, are you a Christian?"

 

"Mr. Moody, I sometimes think I am, and sometimes I am afraid I am not."

 

He very kindly said, "Read it again."

 

So I read it again: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

 

Then he said, "Do you believe it?" I said, "Yes."

 

"Do you receive Him?" I said, "Yes."

 

"Well," he said, "are you a Christian?"

 

I just started to say over again that sometimes I was afraid I was not, when the only time in all the years I knew him and loved him, he was sharp with me. He turned on me with his eyes flashing and said, "See here, whom are you doubting?"

 

Then I saw it for the first time, that when I was afraid I was not a Christian I was doubting God's Word. I read it again with my eyes over- flowing with tears.

 

Since that day I have had many sorrows and many joys, but never have I doubted for a moment that I was a Christian, because God said it.

 

Dear readers, are you looking to yourself and your walk and works for the assurance of salvation?  Or have you trusted Jesus Christ and His satisfactory and substitutionary work on your behalf?[6]

 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24) ¢