Do Not Shut The Kingdom of Heaven
Clarifying Insurance for Assurance
Faith is how salvation takes place from start to finish, from justification to glorification. This is so true among all that know anything of the Bible, that to cite scriptures to prove it would be to light a candle to see the sun at noon. Instead of looking into ourselves, we look outward to Christ. We “behold the man upon the cross.” We look “upward and see Him there who made an end of all our sin.” One look to Christ packs a triple punch. It creates faith, it kindles faith, and it kills lack of faith. All of those describe the process of salvation. That is, it is by “beholding the glory of the Lord” that we “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
And just as justification is inseparable with sanctification, so assurance and sanctification go hand in hand as well. Unless we’re justified we won’t be sanctified, and unless we’re sanctified we won’t have any assurance (or we shouldn’t!). BUT when we try to focus on our justification without the eye of faith on Christ, we actually can’t be justified! And when we try and focus on our sanctification without an eye to Christ we get legalism and condemnation- not newness of life. And when we try to focus on our assurance without an eye to Christ we get doubt and insecurity- not comfort or peace at all! This is because introspection breeds condemnation not salvation, on all levels of the saving process. Always looking to ourselves kills us. Getting stuck on ourselves always gets us stuck in the 'miry bog.' When we introspect concerning our justification it breeds condemnation. When we introspect concerning our sanctification it breeds condemnation. And when we introspect concerning our assurance it breeds condemnation too.
See when we are filled with doubts, concerning any of those things, we are only to look upon ourselves long enough to identify and acknowledge the unbelief, so that we can then look upon Christ to find reason to believe. In other words, we must not dwell on all the bad reasons for belief in us, but on all the good reasons for belief in Christ- not on the sinful clamor of our hearts, but on the awful cries of Calvary. Sure we can (and should) take a glimpse into our own hearts to ‘examine ourselves’, but we shouldn’t stay there. It’s ‘Looking unto Jesus” that both begets faith and strengthens faith. Looking to ourselves ought to only force us to look to Jesus. Because looking to ourselves only shows us where our lack of faith is so that we know what to look for in Christ. And so, really the best ‘examination’ of ourselves is what happens when we look to Jesus. Because the greatest evidence of a Christian is that He is one. In other words, the greatest evidence that a man is a Believer is that he believes! He cries, “Lord I believe! Help my unbelief!”
So when the doubting Christian comes to you saying, “I don’t know if I really believe. I am questioning whether I am really saved or not.” You should first ask them why they think that, and so identify the reasons for unbelief. But then, instead of always getting them bogged down with trying to discern whether or not they have any evidences of a divine and supernatural light elsewhere in their lives (and so just help them in their introspection), you should rather draw their gaze upward and outward to Christ, by identifying all the reasons for belief in Him. For instance you ask them, “You say you doubt you believe. Well do you believe Christ is able to save?” “Well yea. He’s the Son of God. He can’t fail. ‘The Lamb of God will receive the reward for his sufferings.’” “And do you believe Christ is willing to save?” “Yea, He wouldn’t have come to die for sinners if He weren’t.” “Then why can’t He be able and willing to save you? You may question your salvation, maybe rightly so, but saved or not, faith comes from believing in Jesus, not yourself. And if you can but believe in Him, that He is who He says He is and that He is therefore able and willing to save you, then I don’t know why you can’t call yourself a born-again Believer. After all, Believers are those who believe! Now let’s examine these sin issues that are causing you to doubt and figure out how to declare war on them by the Spirit…”
In other words, you preach the same gospel to the doubting Believer as to the Unbeliever. You point to Christ and say, “Believe!” And then when, as they look to Him, they find they do believe, you can confidently tell them that there’s no reason then that you can find why they can’t be a Believer. If they just keep on believing, if they just keep ‘Looking unto Jesus,’ all their unbelief will wither away! Not only their doubts as to their salvation, but their sins that are making them to doubt! Not only will unbelief in their own state evaporate, but so will the unbelief at the root of their sin die as well! When you “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and look full in His wonderful face. All the things in this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” “All things.” Lack of assurance included.
Though guilt may come and comfort leave, this is assurance for me:
I may yet doubt if I believe, but I know whom I have believed.
And when this fact, the one just said, I find I am believing,
This just cold heart, that I thought dead, is once again now beating.
Insurance for Assurance
Let’s paint a scenario where we’ve all been, and maybe even you are right now. Let’s say you have just fallen, and your sin is “ever before you.” Let’s say your ‘bones are rotting away within you’, and your ‘strength is sucked right out of you as by the heat of summer.’ And let’s say you can hardly raise your head because sin has laid you low and your stuck in the ‘miry bog.’ And let’s say the Accuser is right now assaulting you, even a thousand times at once, saying something like, “Look at you. Do you sell your Lord so cheaply? Do you yet again betray and crucify your precious Jesus afresh? Ha! And look how quickly you do it! How easily! How often! How is it you could be one of the ones for whom he died when you think it but little to keep killing him again and again and again? You pitiful soul. Stop kidding yourself. You are no Christian. You have no interest in Christ. You have no true love to him. Your love for him is but from self-love. For you love your sins over your Savior. That is evident enough. Get off it. You have no part with Jesus. You are plainly still in your sins! You’re not one of God’s children. You’re still in open rebellion against Him! No, you have no assurance for your salvation. If you’re still here in sin after all this time, the only assurance you have is that you will never be saved. Seek for repentance with tears, yet just like Esau, you will never find it. Strive for it as you might, you have crucified once again the Son of God, and God condemns you Himself in His Word, ‘it is therefore impossible to restore such as you again to repentance. There no longer remains a sacrifice for your sins.’” And let’s say you feel it would just be a sin on top of sin to argue with him, and that you would just be deceiving yourself further to tell yourself that you are somehow still a Christian in light of your sin- still somehow a born-again believer, still in someway indwelt with the Holy Spirit and the same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead.
When you are in such a case, such a hopeless, despondent, maybe even suicidal case, speak to yourself this: Say to your soul and say to your Accuser, “Yes. Maybe you are right after all. Maybe I don’t have any reason to be assured of my salvation. Maybe I have no reason to be assured of anything good of myself at all. Maybe all I can be assured of is that I am truly the chief of sinners, yea the chief of all the chiefs of sinners, and that I ought to be damned to Hell quicker than anyone and ‘endure the worst of Hell’s furies for failing God so’! Maybe I am the worst sinner who has ever breathed and who will ever walk the face of this planet. Maybe it is all true. I wouldn’t doubt it. I can see it plain enough. And so it is difficult for me to believe I am saved or ever have been. It is difficult to believe I could even be saved! But still, this remains: Though it is difficult for me to believe I am saved, it is not difficult for me to believe in my Savior. I have no trouble doubting myself. But I cannot doubt Him. I may doubt my ability to be saved, but I do not doubt His ability to save me. I may be the vilest of the vile, and the filthiest of all, still I cannot question He has the strength to make a world, and the might to raise the dead! I may be too far gone, fair enough, but His arm reaches across the heavens. I may be too low, I may have gone too deep, but His Spirit searches even to the depths of Sheol. I may have sinned myself away, against mercy and light and grace, and maybe even I have crucified the Lord afresh and there is no sacrifice left for my sins; yet still His blood is sufficient to save the dirtiest and His hand is strong enough to keep even the most wayward. My sin may be too wicked, my secrets too dark, my past scars too deep, my offenses too grievous indeed for me to ever think I could have any part in Christ; but Oh! Jesus is more righteous, His blood is darker still, His scars are deeper, His mercy is even greater than my worst offense. Yes, when all’s said and done, I may not know if I believe, but I know whom I believe if I do! I may wonder whether I am a son of God, but I do not wonder about the Son of Man. I may doubt me, but I do not doubt Him. And though there may be a thousand reasons for unbelief in me, there are far more reasons for belief in Him. My sin abounds as infinite upon infinite, an abyss deeper and wider than the depths of Hell itself; yet His grace super-abounds all the more, His forgiveness is greater than my sin, His mercies are new every morning. Oh my guilt is much, but there is more mercy in Christ than sin in me! My need of forgiveness is desperate indeed, yet He is more ready to forgive than I am to be forgiven! Yes, ‘Forgiveness has been in his heart all along, and when I approach him to make right my wrong, he runs up to greet me, and draws to me near; embracing and kissing and ready to clear.’ So maybe you are right about me after all. Probably, I don’t know. But I do know I am not wrong about Him. Though I am unable, He is able. Though I am unwilling, He is willing. Though I am weak, He is mighty to save. Though I may even be dead in my sins, still He can raise the dead. Oh yes, it may be difficult for me to believe I am saved, but it is not so hard for me to believe in my Savior. And so I will keep believing in Him. He says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” He says, “Let the one who desires, drink of the water of life without price.” He says, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” He says, “All who come to me I will in no wise cast out.” He says, “Everyone who looks on Me and believes should have eternal life.” He says, “All who believe in me will be saved.” He says, “No one can pluck you from my hand.” He says, “If my Father began a work in you, He will bring it to completion.” He says, “Though you are faithless, I will remain faithful.” He says, “Though you were unlovely and unfaithful, and though you did not love me, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you.’” Oh, what Jesus says! Oh, who Jesus is! I don’t see much when I look into my heart, but I see Calvary when I look into His. I don’t hear much good when I listen to myself, but, Oh when I dwell where the cries of Calvary are louder than the clamor of my heart, then “I hear the Savior say, ‘Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness watch and pray, find in Me thine all in all.’”
Though guilt may come and comfort leave, this is assurance for me:
I may yet doubt if I believe, but I know whom I have believed.
Meet Mollie.
Joy that Doesn't Come from Prosperity
If ever I have thought in my head that the Psalms are practically unhelpful to the Christian walk this Psalm has put that argument to death. The principles of the problems that the Psalmist is facing and trying to wage the war of faith against are omni-prevalent (aka you face them a lot) in our western culture. The Psalmist when examining his culture is struck by the fact that there is a certain group of people that is marked by lavish prosperity and this group happens to be arrogant and wicked (v.3). Their prosperity is marked by a comfortable worry free lifestyle and abundant riches (v. 12). Through observing this prosperous group the Psalmists desires start to be enticed and he claims to be envious (v. 3), and even frustrated at his religious pursuits because he deems them worthless since they have not produced the prosperity that he is seeing around him. Prosperity is a prominent pursuit in our culture (just look at any magazine at your local grocery store) and is even in our constitution, which states that we are entitled to the “pursuit of happiness” (whatever that means). Christianity has responded to this craving for prosperity in a number of ways. One way Christianity has responded has been by buying into the desire of prosperity and shaping the gospel around the desire for it. Some have reasoned that prosperity is a good thing and God is good therefore God will give us prosperity if we trust in him (in case you were wondering that is really bad logic). But this Psalmist did not fall into that trap of atrocious logic and he still believed in the goodness of God (v. 1). So how did this Psalmist fight the fight of faith and wage war against his deceitful desires. First, the Psalmist sought to turn away his eyes from the culture onto God by seeking the presence of God (v. 16-17). His constant dwelling on the state of the wicked had caused him to desire the state of the wicked. The same way standing in front of an In-N-Out burger would entice you to desire food. But this is because he had lost a God-centered discernment which can only be attained through a constant and consistent dwelling in the presence of God through which we are able to discern the truth of God. As the Psalmist pondered the state of the wicked in the presence of God, he was able to gain an accurate view of the end of the wicked (v. 18-20). Also, he gained a God-centered view of his own state and how his sovereign God related to him. The Psalmist grasped two crucial truths that showed him that he ultimately lacked nothing. First, in his present circumstance God was sovereignly caring for him and guiding him to glory (v. 23-24). Although he was not materially wealthy he had infinitely more security than wealth could ever give him because he was being guided to ultimate glory by the sovereign hand of God. Second, the Psalmist saw that having God satisfied his soul with everlasting joy (v. 25-26). In light of the glorious God of the universe the Psalmist came to understand that he lacked nothing because he possessed everything, namely God himself, his portion forever.
I find it helpful sometimes to summarize big things into small power packed statements and I did such a thing with this Psalm:
Prosperity enticed my every desire,
as my faith dwindled like a dying fire.
To Your house I came with desperate prayer,
and was lifted up by sovereign care.
Now to God I look and adore,
As my exceeding joy forevermore.
Hope for the Future
I want you to notice that he gives his reasons. Here they are:
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:9).
The apostle does not say, "You are faithful." Alas! the faithfulness of man is a very unreliable affair; it is mere vanity. He does not say, "You have faithful ministers to lead and guide you, and therefore I trust you will be safe." Oh, no! if we are kept by men we shall be but ill kept. He puts it, "God is faithful." If we are found faithful, it will be because God is faithful. On the faithfulness of our covenant God the whole burden of our salvation must rest. On this glorious attribute of God the matter hinges. We are variable as the wind, frail as a spider's web, weak as water. No dependence can be placed upon our natural qualities, or our spiritual attainments; but God abideth faithful. He is faithful in His love; He knows no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He is faithful to His purpose; He doth not begin a work and then leave it undone. He is faithful to His relationships; as a Father He will not renounce His children, as a friend He will not deny His people, as a Creator He will not forsake the work of His own hands. He is faithful to His promises, and will never allow one of them to fail to a single believer. He is faithful to His covenant, which He has made with us in Christ Jesus, and ratified with the blood of His sacrifice. He is faithful to His Son, and will not allow His precious blood to be spilled in vain. He is faithful to His people to whom He has promised eternal life, and from whom He will not turn away.
This faithfulness of God is the foundation and cornerstone of our hope of final perseverance. The saints shall persevere in holiness, because God perseveres in grace. He perseveres to bless, and therefore believers persevere in being blessed. He continues to keep His people, and therefore they continue to keep His commandments. This is good solid ground to rest upon, and it is delightfully consistent with the title of this little book, "all of grace." Thus it is free favor and infinite mercy which ring in the dawn of salvation, and the same sweet bells sound melodiously through the whole day of grace.
Perfectionism v. Glorification
