Being Sure of Salvation

Are you sure of your salvation. Stay with us Renewing Your Mind with RC Sproul is next gone through periods in your life when you've wondered if you were really saved your not alone. Towering figures of the Christian faith. What John the one John Bunyan, and even the prince of preachers Charles Spurgeon all wrote about their struggles with God. But is it necessary to be assured of our salvation and is it even possible is Dr. Spruill. We've been looking carefully at the great enterprise of living the Christian life. Understanding that God has said this is the will of God for you, even your sanctification and that the pilgrimage were on his pilgrimage of growth and of maturation in the development of Christian character. I think the highest measuring rod for the development of sanctification in our lives is found in the New Testament lists of the fruits of the spirit. I know of no greater barometer to measure our progress and to examine ourselves in light of the fruit of the spirit and were going to spend considerable time looking at the fruit of the spirit as Paul sets it forth for us in his epistles.

But before we do that there is another area that I think is extremely important that we look at before we look specifically at the fruit of the spirit and that is the question of the assurance of salvation.

I know many of you may have just gasped when you heard me say that because to wait a minute, were involved here in the study of sanctification.

The study of spiritual growth and development of Christian character. Why would we all of a sudden take a detour and get into the doctrinal issue of the assurance of salvation, but let me assure you that this is not a divergent but this is integral to our understanding of sanctification.

I am convinced that one of the most important ingredients that facilitates growth in the Christian life and spiritual development is getting the question of your state of grace before God firmly settled in your mind. I believe that there's a tremendous spiritual disadvantage to living the Christian life in a state of spiritual uncertainty about where you stand before God that makes us exceedingly vulnerable to the attacks of Satan and of the world and of the flesh. We need to have it settled that we belong to Christ.

I don't believe that will ever be motivated to work our way into heaven. Once we truly understand the gospel that tells us to despair of trying to satisfy the demands of God's law by our own efforts by our own works or by our own righteousness.

And since we have this free grace of forgiveness that comes to us in faith. We don't have to be pursuing holiness or righteousness by a fear motivation that is that unless we achieve it were not going to be redeemed, but rather our pursuit of righteousness. Our pursuit of holiness is a response of love and obedience to people who have been forgiven freely.

I remember when I was studying in Amsterdam and Prof. Burke Hauer made this comment in the classroom. He said the essence of theology is grace and the essence of ethics is gratitude that is once we understand that the only way we can ever be acceptable before God and his righteousness is on the basis of grace. Then we were freed from seeking to merit our way into his favor or into his kingdom the one we understand the riches of that grace in our hearts are filled with love and joy and gratitude. Then our natural response will be. What what do you want me to do, Lord, how can I please you. How can I say thank you for this wonderful grace by which you have accepted me in the beloved. That's the only legitimate motive for the pursuit of righteousness. What did Jesus say to his disciples, if you love me, keep my commandments.

He didn't say if you keep my commandments. I will love you or if you keep my commandments, you will get into heaven but he was saying if you love me then, keep my commandments.

As a manifestation as a demonstration of that love. That's the motive for developing righteousness in the Christian life. Now again, if were not sure of our relationship with Christ or of our relationship are standing before God, then we face all kinds of spiritual paralysis and find it difficult to make much progress note when we think of the fruit of the spirit we think of the apostle Paul and his teaching in Galatians, but that list of the fruit of the spirit that is found in Galatians is not the only list of the fruit of the spirit found in the New Testament, nor is Paul the only apostolic writer who gives us a lists of those virtues that we could call the fruit of the spirit or signs of growth in righteousness, Peter gives a similar list and I want to turn your attention to that today so that we can see the significance of it. If we turn to chapter 1 of second Peter. It begins with these words with the formal greeting Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ to see he is already talking about what we have received in terms of the righteousness of Christ through faith gets to the subject immediately. Then he goes on grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust sound so similar to Paul making the distinction between the work of the flesh and the lust of the flesh.

Now Peter turns his attention to fruit in verse five, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. That's like James faith without works is dead faith is that instrument that means by which we are linked to Christ, receive all the benefits of our salvation, but that is.

Luther said justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. If you have true faith that something must be added to that faith and that is virtue. Virtue becomes the fruit of faith, not the cause of faith or the grounds of our salvation, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love, this is a list folks of the fruit of the spiritual life we read it again, you add virtue to faith, knowledge to virtue self-control, to knowledge, perseverance, the self-control, godliness, to perseverance, brotherly kindness, to godliness, and love to brotherly kindness and here's the part I want us to focus on for if these things are yours and abound.

That is if you have this fruit you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old Senate so that there is a measure of forgetfulness in us when we fail to be diligent in the quest for virtue for godliness, for brotherly love for kindness and for perseverance in these other virtues that Peter has listed. Therefore, verse 10, and I want to pause there because what does the word therefore indicate any time you see the word therefore let it be an alarm buzzer, a wake-up call to your mind, particularly when you're reading Scripture, and you see the word therefore what this that signal is coming a conclusion and that conclusion is coming from what previous premises so we just taken this time to read the previous premises that lead us to a conclusion and that, therefore, that comes a conclusion usually signals. Also, some kind of action verb. The action may be learning or knowing something, but it's something that we do so. Therefore, he says be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble for a sullen entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, dear friends, if Christ walked into your house today and said if you do this and this and this. You will never stumble.

Would you be interested in learning what this and this and this are and would you be willing and interested to do those things lest you never stumble. I said at the beginning today that the consideration of the assurance of salvation is not the concluding unscientific postscript to the doctrine of sanctification. Rather, it is foundational and basic the spiritual growth. Peter has just given us a list of virtues similar to Paul's list of the fruit of the spirit and he has called us to diligence in the quest for this virtue but is told us there is a greater diligence that is necessary in order for us to accomplish these virtues and that diligence has in view the call to make our calling and election sure I know that there are all kinds of people in the church you don't believe in election and Peter may be speaking right past them here, but people of all kinds of questions about election, but predestination, endless discussions, endless debates, analyst controversy, but I'm sure God willing there'll come a time in this teaching environment. We will explore that very difficult doctrine in great length, but right now my purpose is not to give a lecture on election on predestination only to note in passing that the concept of election is not something was invented in the 16th century were by Augustine but it is a biblical concept and Peter is assuming his readers understand something about the doctrine of election and that this is not an unfamiliar concept to them. He doesn't take the time to spell it out here, but he is saying to them, be diligent in making your election sure he's not saying be diligent in causing your election. He's not saying be diligent in effecting your election. But what he's talking about here is making sure of your election that you come to a state of assurance that you are numbered among the elect.

I can remember when I was in seminary. We had a big debate about the question of the assurance of salvation and we pulled the seminary students on campus and asked them this question. Are you convinced were sure that you're in a state of grace and the overwhelming majority of the students and that seminary said no and that they said no but they said no with a vengeance thinking that to be sure was an act of arrogance is a nobody can have assurance of whether there say whether in a state of grace and so in the evangelism explosion program third diagnostic questions that are used to draw people into discussions of the gospel and the first question that is used goes something like this. If you come to the place in your spiritual life or in your thinking where you know for sure that when you die, you're going to go to heaven. And again, all of the research on that is indicated that the vast majority over 80% or more like 90% of people who were asked the question, answer it by saying no, I don't know for sure that when I die, I'm going to go to heaven and when you pursue it with people will often say I don't think anybody can be sure, and if you are sure that would be a case of unspeakable arrogance. So we have those views and that attitude that is prevalent in our culture. Somehow, if the square that with what Peter is saying here where he issues an apostolic mandate for us to be diligent to make our calling and election sure that is to say, in terms of the biblical nor the assurance of salvation is not simply a luxury option for the Christian. It is a duty, and it's not a duty that sister take place after you've been in the face for 25 years. This is something that is important.

At the very foundation of your Christian life that you get it settled that when you put your head on the pillow at night. You understand that you are in a state of grace while again the purpose for this is not simply so that you can spout everybody all the complexities of theology and display your theological erudition. Now the purpose is very practical. The practical purpose of seeking assurance of salvation is that we may grow and not be barren and not be paralyzed because Peter understands the link between assurance being at rest and knowing that we are in a reconciled state with God knowing that we have peace with God, knowing that we have access into his presence that those assurances are strong feed for the soul, as the soul seeks to grow in obedience and in righteousness. Let's look at it again for this reason, in verse 12 of second Peter one I will not be negligent. To remind you always have these things though you know and are established in the present truth.

He's telling me said you know these things and you are established and it but I still take the time to remind you, because it's so important. Again, let's go back to the.

Therefore, in verse 10.

Therefore, brethren, here's the conclusion be even more diligent to make your call and election sure because if somebody said to me RC are you sure you numbered among the elect. You sure the you're going to heaven. Are you sure you're in a state of grace I would say yes. I'm sure that if somebody asked me the following question and said to me that you are assurance level remain constant in your Christian experience. But what I say now there some days I'm not so sure fact, I remember one where I was walking down the hall and I happened to glance over the side and there was a mirror there and I saw my own reflection in the mirror, which is something I try not to do very often and it was like for a split second I was looking at myself from a vantage point outside of myself and the question popped in my mind what if you're not really say what if all you have is external religion. What if all you have is a sham, a hypocritical face like the Pharisees.

What if your destination RC is really how I mean and I was stricken at that moment was cold sober terror and I will and I began to think if I look at my life and I see the sin that's present in my life. And if that's all I look at I'm going to be driven to despair and I'm going to lose whatever assurance I ever had to. The problem is this, and were going to explore it in our next.

The thing that makes the quest for assurance of salvation so difficult and yet so important is because there is such a thing as false assurance. It is possible to be convinced that your's in the state of grace, and not be in a state of grace and yet it's also possible to be assured that you are in a state of grace and be in the state of grace and is very important that we be able to tell the difference.

Since that difference will examine in our next meeting. In second Peter chapter 1 Peter tells us that we should seek to make our calling and election sure in the way we do that is by keeping in step with the spirit.

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Here's RC with a final thought for us today. I mentioned the diagnostic question. Have you come to the place in your thinking or in your spiritual life where you know for sure that when you die, you're going to go to heaven. How would you answer that question in the privacy of your own mind and if your answer is no. My next question would be why do you say now. Not sure why arch may discourage you sure you're not going to go to heaven and you're not in a state of grace. If your answer is yes of your Sadie, how do you know and if your answer is I don't know that that's really a no answer is not. That means you don't have assurance but you are called of God to gain that assurance in the promises of God make assurance spiritual assurance possible and whatever weakness attends our lack of assurance is strengthened by the presence and the power of the Holy Ghost who bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. If you're not sure of what state you are in, let me say to you that the answer to that question may be the most important answer you ever discover in your life and so please don't fail to ask and we do hope you'll join us tomorrow is Dr. Spruill digs deeper into this very difficult issue with a lesson titled true and false assurance that's fighting here on Renewing Your Mind