Meditation - The Bible is Sufficient to Give Us Assurance
by Isaac Overton
Question 52: How does the sufficiency of scripture show that the Holy Spirit uses scripture to help us make our calling and election sure and enable us to seek and find assurance in our salvation?
Answer: God commands us in his word to be diligent to confirm our calling and election. God the Holy Spirit thus helps us through the scriptures to make our calling and election sure. He does this firstly by showing us that it is our duty to do so, and secondly by providing the means by which we may seek and find assurance in our salvation. The Apostle John was especially used by God to this end, in the writing of his First Epistle, and believers ought to make a diligent study of this epistle unto this end.
Everybody thought Harry was one of the most solid Christians in their church. He was a family man. Steady. Stable. Committed to church life. He was involved, and he was present. His kids were good kids. Harry had served as an elder in the church. He didn’t have a hidden porn problem, he was honest with his money, he had all the good books of theology on his book shelf, and he’d read a plenty of them. His colleagues at work would say he was friendly and a hard worker. He added value to his team. His lawn was generally mowed, and he was exercised daily in his personal devotional and prayer life. He was the sort of guy that no one asked: “Are you ok?”, because everyone naturally assumed that he was.
But if you could read Harry’s mind, it was quite a different story. Harry had questions. Not: “Does God exist?” type questions, but: “Am I really saved?” type questions. What if I’m not a true believer? Is there really evidence of spiritual growth in my life? Does that recurring pattern of sin in my life mean that I’m under sin’s dominion? What if I am under sin’s dominion? What if I’m not even born again? How can I get solid answers to my questions? Harry didn’t ever ask anyone these questions, but they were constantly revolving around his mind. And nobody even knew it.
I wonder if you’ve ever asked the kinds of questions that Harry was asking? I’ve got news for you: it’s a normal part of the Christian life to wrestle with questions like these. I don’t need to be able to read your mind to know that, because I’m able to read my Bible, and God tells us that it’s true. For example, every Christian is specifically instructed to: “be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election” (2 Pt 1:10). This process naturally entails the reality of a sense of spiritual uncertainty in our experience. To make our calling and election sure, we must ask serious questions about the possibility that our calling and election is truly real. We must ask serious questions of ourselves about the possibility that our profession of faith is hypocritical.
In fact, God has given us an entire epistle dedicated to answering this question. It’s the Apostle John’s first epistle. In 1 John 5:13 John says: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” The whole design of John’s letter is to help us to examine ourselves and come to a firm conviction that we do, indeed, have eternal life. At various points in the epistle, John makes it explicitly clear that this assurance of faith and salvation is precisely what he is aiming to help us with (e.g. 3:19; 4:13; 4:24). Every believer ought to make a diligent study of 1 John for this purpose.
The Apostle walks us through a good many essential traits of a true believer. Do I confess my sin? Unbelievers deny that they have sinned (1:5-10). Is my life marked by a growing conformity of obedience to God’s law? (2:3-4). Do I hate my Christian brothers and sisters? It is a sure mark of unbelief (2:11). Do I love the world? It is another mark of an unbeliever (2:15). Do I deny that Jesus is the Messiah? The Son of God? That false doctrine too is the sure mark of an unbeliever (2:21). John provides a rigorous spiritual regime for the testing of our faith, and for the strengthening of our assurance of salvation. It is a book not to be neglected. Be sure to make a careful and rigorous study of John’s First Epistle – especially if assurance of salvation is something that you lack.
There are many other portions of scripture that are serviceable to this great end. The topic is addressed elsewhere in the epistles – be sure to read each one with an eye out for it (e.g. 2 Pt 3:1-11; Rom 8; the warning passages of Hebrews; etc.). A careful study of the Sermon on the Mount will be a great help, in the Beatitudes the Lord Jesus gives an outline of the characteristics of those who are citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 5-7). A study in the spirituality of the psalms will also be of great help. If you find the psalms unrelatable in your own experience, it may indicate that your faith is immature, or perhaps absent altogether. If you find, however, that the psalms are reflective (and directive) of your spiritual experience, it is a good and encouraging sign that you are on the pathway of life.
Beyond this, the works of the puritans will prove to be a great help in making your calling and election sure. Those great doctors of the soul left a vast legacy of spiritual literature applying the medicine of scripture for the purpose of true conversion and assurance in faith. John Owen’s “Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith”, Joseph Alleine’s “A Sure Guide to Heaven”, William Greenhill’s “Stop Loving the World”, and George Swinnock’s “the fading of the flesh and the flourishing of faith” are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg. These men of God from the past are a great help in explaining and applying the scriptures on just these questions. Take up and read!!
SDG.
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Pastor Isaac Overton
Reformed Church of Box Hill