Archive for the ‘Assurance’ Category
September 30th, 2008
One should not rely on emotion to judge things of a spiritual nature. Tears flow from many sources – both the religious and irreligious. It is no significant sign that tears flow, only that the proofs outlined in scripture are present in one’s life.
May 19th, 2007
This is my attempt to sift through the book of Hebrews and pull out the texts that are about, or seem to be about, salvation and assurance. Here’s what I found:
Hebrews 1 talks about Christ being greater than the angels, but the purpose of the angels being “to render service to the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Heb 1:14). So when we get to Hebrews 2:1-4 which says:
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
So Hebrews 2:1 talks about drifting away but I don’t think this is referring to someone who was claiming to be a Christian and has drifted away, rather the whole passage is about hearing the gospel and not heeding it. This passage is saying there are so many signs and wonders – spoken by the Lord, attested to by the angels, confirmed by believers and accompanied by various miracles and gifts from the Holy Spirit – that you will hear and see the gospel. Therefore, if you have heard the good news and neglect it (Heb 2:3), how will you escape Hell?
The rest of Hebrews 2 speaks of Jesus and how he was “briefly humbled” in order that He might become human and conquer death.
Hebrews 3 begins by talking about Jesus being our High Priest and Moses, which is all important, but not necessarily directly relevant to our discussion. However, Hebrews 3:7-11 talks about how the Lord spoke through the Holy Spirit in the days when Israel was in the wilderness preparing to enter the Promised Land. But Israel rebelled and was disobedient – they hardened their hearts to God so God poured out His wrath and didn’t allow the people of that disobedient generation to enter his rest (the Promised Land).
Then in Hebrews 3:12-19 the bible says:
12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
15 while it is said, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”
16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
So what this tells us is this:
Which now takes us to the beginning of Chapter 4. Verse 1-2 says:
1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
So we should fear coming short of the promise of entering God’s rest, right? Why? Verse 2 says that we have had the good news preached (just as Heb 2:1-4 speaks of) to us, just as the Israelites had in the wilderness – but just as the Israelites became disobedient and hardened their hearts through unbelief, we can fall short of the promise because of unbelief. Similarly verse 11 states:
11Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
How do we avoid falling? Avoid following the example of the Israelites in their disobedience and unbelief. Rather, be diligent to believe, encouraging each other day by day so that no one will be hardened by sin (Heb 3:13) and also drawing near to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and grace to help in times of need (Heb 4:16). Which indicates to me that perseverance in belief comes from a couple places: The throne of grace (God) and fellow believers through encouragement.
Hebrews 5 goes into Melchizedek and Jesus as our perfect High Priest which is a great, but somewhat difficult passage that we’ll skip because it doesn’t directly pertain to what we’re researching. However, Chapter 6 picks up right where we left off and talks about the peril of falling away:
1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do, if God permits.
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;
8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
What I take away from this passage is this: you can have been enlightened, have tasted of the heavenly gift, have been made a partaker of the Holy Spirit, have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and still fall away. Which tells me you can participate in Christianity and witness the work of the Holy Spirit in you (right?) but still not receive salvation in the end. In other words, as verses 7-8 say, you can be watered but if when the time comes you yield thorns and thistles (unbelief and disobedience from previous passages?), you will burn. (If you have trouble with this passage like I did, check out Piper’s sermon. Also check out Gal 3:1-5)
Hebrews 6:9-12 talks of the Author’s conviction that the people he’s writing to will be saved, but he still encourages them to “minister to the saints” in an effort to be “diligent so are to realize the full assurance of hope until the end” (Heb 6:10-11) and too not be sluggish but to by “faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb 6:12).
Then in Hebrews 6:13-20 states:
13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
14 saying, “I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.”
15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.
16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.
17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,
20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
In verse 18 it talks of “two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie” which we can find hope (and to some degree assurance of salvation) in that will serve as an anchor for our soul.
My next question is what are the two unchangeable things he’s talking about there? From verse 17 I would say it’s the promise and the oath that God gave to Abraham. His purpose and his promise is revealed in verse 14 where it says “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” His oath is revealed in verse 13 where in addition to His promise, he swears (makes an oath) by Himself, because there’s no one greater to swear by.
So what is the hope found in verse 18? It’s that God is God, He cannot lie and so when He makes a promise, it will come to pass – and that the promise is that God will bless the descendants of Abraham, of which we are a part because of our faith, not physical descent. (This is seen in Hebrews 3:19 where the physical descendants of Abraham weren’t able to enter the promise land because of their unbelief – indicating belief is the measure stick, not heredity.)
Hebrews 7-10 then goes on to talk about Melchizedek’s Priesthood being like Christ’s, the new covenant that Christ ushered in, the differences between the old and new covenant, and the fact that now one sacrifice, made by Christ, is sufficient to cover the sins of the people. All of which leads into verses 26-39 of chapter 10 which say:
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY ” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.”
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,
33 partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.
34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.
35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
37 FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.
38 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
So the first 3 verses of this passage essentially say “if you are living in unrepentant sin, and 2 or 3 witnesses confront you (Matt 18:15-17, 1 Cor 5), and you are still unrepentant, you can expect Hell.”
Verses 29-31 talk about the severity of falling under God’s wrath and judgment, further expanding on the first 3 verses. Then verses 32-35 lead into verse 36 which says that we “have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” So this is once again tying God’s promise to Abraham to the need to endure and persevere in faith.
Chapter 11 of Hebrews opens with “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So this verse speaks to the idea that assurance is found in faith. And as we said earlier, our faith is strengthened through the church and by drawing near to the throne of Christ.
The vast majority of the rest of 11 talks about the “heroes” of faith but at the very end it says something that can appear horrific at first reading:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Now it says they endured all kinds of horrible things (verses 37 & 38), and did not receive what was promised (verse 39). What? Is that saying they endured but in the end didn’t receive salvation? No. Look at verse 40 – God provided something better. This promise wasn’t the promise of salvation, but a different promise, one made for here on earth – meaning that they will have the salvation that was bought for them by Christ, however they had to endure all kinds of horrible things here in this life. And that’s the best explanation I can come up with at this time for those verses.
Let’s move on the Hebrews 12. Scattered throughout chapter 12 are hints of ways you can find some assurance of your salvation.
Verses 7 and 8 say “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” So one way to find some assurance of your salvation is to look at your life and see if God has and is currently disciplining you when you sin. If you are sinning and not being disciplined, you shouldn’t think that you are saved.
Verses 14-17 say:
14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
Now, I’m not even going to touch the Esau parts of the text except to say it’s apparent that he did not receive salvation. But before that it says to pursue “peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” So in order to see the Lord, according to this verse, what has to be present? Sanctification in your life. You are commanded to pursue sanctification and peace in this passage. You are also commanded to see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, which is similar to what we saw earlier in chapter 3, and to see that no root of bitterness springs up in your relationships – lest you fall like Esau.
Verse 25 states “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.” Which is to say, be sure you do not reject God like the Pharisees did. If you reject God, things will go bad for you.
Then Hebrews 13 concludes the letter and includes a wonderful passage exhorting God’s people to sacrifice, praise and do good works, but doesn’t directly relate to what we’re talking about.
So that’s a rundown of the passages in Hebrews which teach, or seem to teach, on assurance and salvation. Here are my findings wrapped up in a number of short paraphrases: