 The Doctrine of Assurance Part Two (Is Assurance Essential to Salvation?) John G. Reisinger
In our first article on Assurance we asked the following four questions:
We spent most the time discussing only the first question, "Is assurance possible?" We showed how Roman Catholicism, and all other religions based on a works salvation, vehemently rejected any notions of assurance. Rome went so far as to make assurance a mortal sin. In this article we want to look at the second question: Is assurance of salvation necessary to true salvation? Or put another way, can a true Christian doubt he is saved and still be saved? We will see that the clear answer is, "Assurance is not necessary to salvation." A person may be truly converted and lack assurance and likewise a person may be positive they are saved and be as lost as the Devil. The basic error in modern evangelicalism is in confusing the relationship of faith and assurance to genuine salvation. Faith and assurance have become basically the same thing in modern evangelical preaching. If an individual smiles and says, "I accepted Christ, I know for sure I am saved," his very assurance proves that he has faith. Likewise, if a doubting soul says, "I am not sure my faith is strong enough. Maybe I am lost," that is proof that person is without faith and is therefore lost. Let me show you that faith and assurance are not only two distinctly different things, but also that you can have either one without having the other one. In other words, you may be as sure as can be of salvation and be as lost as the Devil, and likewise, you may doubt your faith and still be a true child of God. To quote the Westminster Confession of Faith:
I think that statement may be a bit too strong, but I wholeheartedly agree that assurance of salvation is not "of the essence of faith." However, I also feel it is very unusual for a true believer to "wait long" for assurance despite the fact such a thing is possible. Let me ask a very simple question that will help us sort out a lot of bad thinking on this subject. If you are sure you are saved, who told you that you were saved? Put another way the question is, who gave you assurance that you had saving faith and were on your way to heaven? Please notice I did not ask, "Who told you how to be saved, but who told you that you were saved?" Your preacher, your parents, or a friend at work may witness the gospel to you and tell you how to be saved, but only the Holy Spirit of God Himself can tell you that you are saved. I can tell you how to be saved but I cannot tell that you have true faith. Only the Holy Spirit can see your heart and He, and He alone, can validate His own work in your heart. I can tell you the way of salvation but I cannot assure you that you are truly in the way of salvation. I hope you can see the radical difference in those two things. Unfortunately most preachers and counselors today cannot tell the difference. They do not distinguish between knowing the way to heaven and being sure that you are in that way. This is one of the terrible and dangerous elements of the altar-call system. When a person comes to the altar it is the 'duty' of the counselor to convince that person that they are now truly saved. The person who comes forward has evidenced his faith by his act of coming forward and is now safe and secure in Christ. The individual has taken the first step of faith and is surely on his or her way to heaven. The personal worker, or pastor, will give you assurance to that effect. Is that how you got assurance that you were saved? If you know exactly who gave you assurance of salvation, that will go a long way in helping to know if your assurance is valid. If it was anyone except the Holy Spirit of God, you are in a dangerous position. Let me lay down a couple of facts that seem very clear and essential.
Please do not misunderstand me. I am not at all suggesting that no one has ever been converted that went to an altar. Nor I am saying that every person who says "I know I am saved because I made a decision for Christ" is lost. God can, and does, draw straight lines with awfully crooked sticks. What I am saying is this: Nobody ever got saved because they went to an altar, they got saved in spite of it. My concern is with the host of people who have been given assurance that because they went forward they are now saved. I repeat my basic presupposition. You may be positive you are saved and still be lost! Likewise, you may doubt you are saved and be a true child of God! There is a sin of presumption where men presume they are saved even though they live like the Devil. Just as there is true assurance there is also false assurance. The old saying "everybody talking about heaven ain't going there" is true. We can add, "and everyone who doubts is not necessarily lost." In our last article we mentioned Thomas. It is true that doubting Thomas said, "Unless I see the holes and put my finger into the holes in his hands and side, I will not believe." However, he was not saying, "This is a bunch of baloney and too ridiculous to believe." He was saying, "This is too good to be true and I cannot believe it." He was not looking for excuses to reject the truth, he was looking for evidence to believe. He wanted to believe but could not. Thomas was a natural pessimist. He always looked on the dark side. Every single mention of him in Scripture shows his negative attitude. Our Lord did not treat him like he treated the Jews. When they asked for a sign Jesus rebuked them. When Thomas made his statement, which was far more audacious, Jesus, in effect, said, "Thomas, is that what you need. Well, come and put your finger in the holes." Jesus always treats the tender sheep differently that than He treats the wolves. I learned the difference between faith and assurance very early in my ministry. Let me give you the two major examples that helped me to understand this basic presupposition. Following the first sermon I preached after going into the ministry I asked a lady if she was saved. She began to cry and said, "Mr. Reisinger, I am not sure I know what you are talking about. You confused me more in one sermon than all the sermons that I ever heard. I was baptized in this church and have been a member here for over twenty-five years and no one ever asked me before if I was saved." I smiled and said, "I just asked you, and I am going to ask you again." We talked for nearly half an hour. I urged her to read the Gospel of John and underline every time she read "eternal life" or "everlasting life." I told her to ask two questions and let the text answer her questions. I explained that I, or any other religious leader, might lie to her but the Bible would never lie to her. The questions were these:
I then used John 3:16 to demonstrate how she was to underline and ask the two questions. On Thursday, the lady phoned me and with a hesitant voice said, "Mr. Reisinger, I think I became a Christian. I think I have everlasting life." I rushed over to visit the lady and discovered that she really seemed to have grasped the truth of the gospel. I was elated. I was never so sure that God had called me to preach as I was that moment. It seemed that God blessed my very first sermon to the salvation of one of His sheep. On Sunday morning as I went to Sunday School, the lady was standing in front of the church crying. She said, "I guess I did not become a Christian after all. I just thought I did." I was heart-broken. I thought, "Here is the first convert and it was a false profession." When I asked her why she was sure she had not become a Christian she said, "This morning I had an awful fight with my husband. I said some awfully mean things to him and I know that if I had truly become a Christian I would never have said those awful things." Well, when she said that I thought I better ask some more questions. I asked, "Have you ever gotten angry with your husband before and said nasty things?" She replied, "We have been married twenty years and we have been fighting twenty years." She stopped and got a strange look on her face and said, "You know in all our fights I always blamed him regardless. This time I was positive it was 100% his fault and he deserved to be told off but that did not help me. I still felt bad even though it was his fault. I went into the bedroom, kneeled down at the bed and asked the Lord to forgive me for what I had said and then I even asked my husband to forgive me when I was positive it was his fault. I know if I had a become a Christian I would never have said those mean things." Here was a lady who was totally convinced that she was not a Christian! She did not have an ounce of assurance. Several years later I took a pastorate in Toronto, Canada. I was visiting the people who were listed as members on the church roll. I visited one man that was drunk, smoking a big cigar, who took God's name in vain and used the name of Christ as a curse word. He said, "There are two things I learned in that Baptist Church (the one I was pastoring). I learned that John 3:16 says whoever believes has everlasting life and once you are saved you can never be lost." I tried to talk to the man about his soul and he started to get angry. He is the only church member that ever bodily threw me out of his house. He kept insisting that he was saved and secure. He asked, "Don't you believe John 3:16," and I replied that I surely did. He said, "Does it not say that whoever believes has everlasting life and once you have everlasting life you can't lose it?" I said, "What does that have to with you? What makes you think that you ever believed? John 3:16 does not say, 'Whoever says he believes and keeps on getting drunk and cursing in God's name has everlasting life and will never perish?'" That was not when he threw me out of the house. That happened when I asked the man what Paul meant when he said, "No drunkard will enter the kingdom of heaven." Here was a man with absolute assurance of salvation and quoting the Bible to prove it! He did not have an ounce of doubt that he was saved. If those two people were race horses heading towards heaven which one would you bet on it to make it? I would bet on the lady who was positive that she was not a Christian! In reality, I cannot say for certain that either of these people were either saved or lost since I could not see their hearts. I can say that the lady gave far more evidence of a genuine conversion than the man but that is as far as I can go. The important thing is not whether we can prove that either, neither, or both of these people, were either saved or lost, for we cannot positively prove any of these options. Since we cannot inspect their hearts, the important question becomes, "How should we counsel and treat these people?" This is where modern evangelicalism so miserably fails. Should we scold the woman and rebuke her for her unbelief? Should we say, "You wicked and faithless woman. You ought to be damned for doubting the promise of God. Your lack of assurance is proof that you have no faith." And should we say to the good 'brother' who is drunk and cursing, "I know you are saved because you accepted Jesus as your Savior, but if you do not quit cursing and getting drunk you are not going to have any 'yo-yos' to play with in the millennium?" Someone might be saying, "Brother John, you have surely proved your point that you can have faith without assurance and vice versa with these two illustrations. However, you are pretty good with illustrations and I have often heard you say, 'You can prove anything with an illustration.' What about Scripture? What does the Bible say on the subject." That is a fair question. Let me answer it with two passages of Scripture. The first is John 20:30, 31 and the other one is 1 John 5:13. If someone were to ask me how to become a Christian, I would show them John 20:30, 31. Look at the passage:
Jesus did many things that are not recorded in any book in the Bible. John mentions many things that the other three gospels do not and he left out many things that all three of the others recorded. In this passage John tells us what motivated him to choose the particular dialogues, events, and miracles that he did. John alone records the dialogue with Nicodemus, the raising of Lazarus, the woman at the well, the changing of the water into wine, and the great "I am" declarations. In this passage John informs us that he chose the material that best proved one thing—the truth that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Messiah, or the Savior. However, John was not interested in winning a debate or argument, he wanted to convince sinners that by faith in Christ they would be saved. John keeps putting men and women in the witness chair and eliciting testimony from them. The testimony is always the same, "we believe and are sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." One of the best examples is the testimony of John the Baptist. The Baptist would have had every reason to hate Christ. After all, all of John's followers left him and followed Christ. The Baptist would have seemed to be an ideal witness against Christ. When a person who has every reason to be hostile testifies in your behalf, they make the best witness. John the Apostle puts John the Baptist on the witness stand and asks, "Do you know this man?" "Yes, He is my cousin." "Is it true that when he came to town you lost your entire following to him?" "Yes." "And how does that make you feel?" The courtroom is quite shocked when the Baptist replies, with a genuine smile, "I am quite happy because that is the way it is supposed to be. He must increase and I must decrease. He is the bridegroom and I am nothing." If one reads the Gospel of John with the knowledge of 20:30, 31 in his mind he will constantly feel himself being pressed with the person and work of Jesus Christ. He will over and over get two clear impressions. He will know that (1) Jesus Christ is an able Savior. There is not a sinner that He cannot save. He will also know that (2) Jesus Christ is a most willing Savior. There is not a single sinner that comes to Christ who will ever be turned away. The message is "him that cometh I will never cast out." So if you ask me "How do I become a Christian" I will give the Gospel of John and say, "God has moved one of His Apostles to write a book just to answer your specific question." I would then point you to John 20:30, 31 and explain the above and tell you what I told the lady in my first pastorate about underlining the words "everlasting" and "eternal" and then asking the two questions. Suppose you came to me several weeks later and said, "Pastor Reisinger, I have read the Gospel of John and I am convinced without question that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only Savior. I know and understand that the only way to heaven is by faith in Christ. I have prayed to Christ and asked Him to save me. I do want to trust Him and have everlasting life, but I am not sure my faith is strong enough or if I am truly sincere. I do not at all doubt Christ but I doubt my own wicked heart and my faith." Do you know what I would say? I would say, "Just as God moved the Apostle John to write a book for the sole purpose of answering your first question about how to become a Christian, He moved that same Apostle to write a second book just to answer your second question about how to be sure about your faith." I would then turn with you to 1 John 5:13 and explain what John meant. Look at the text: These things 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. It is important to notice several things that show the difference in the Gospel of John and this Epistle of John.
1st John gives us nine clear and specific tests that we are to use to test our life and faith. Now I said tests and did not say texts. Today we have "proof text assurance" and very little of biblical testing of our faith. I am fully aware that some Reformed people have fallen into the opposite error and make all of their religion to be one of constantly "searching their heart for evidences." Unfortunately we have one 'truly Reformed' group that uses this wonderful book to destroy assurance rather than promote it. I once heard a well-known seminary professor say, "Pastor so-and-so is the only preacher I know that can take a book of the Bible that was expressly written to give believers assurance and preach over eighty sermons where each sermon is deliberately designed to make them doubt their salvation." We do not have time or space to cover all nine of the tests of eternal life in 1st John. Let me deal with one of the most important ones. It is found in 1st John 2:3, 4:
It is obvious that what it means to "keep His commandment, or word," is the key to the passage. Any preacher or teacher with a legalistic bent can bring the conscience of tender sheep into fear and bondage by using, or rather misusing, this text and test. I remember many years ago hearing a southern preacher on the radio preaching from 1 John 2:15 which says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." He was doing a pretty fair job until he got to the specifics. He finally said, "Now what does the Bible mean by not 'loving the world?' Anybody but a fool will know that God is talking about playing baseball." The man then preached against baseball for ten minutes. You had a choice of either giving up baseball or admitting you were not saved! That is exactly what men do with 1 John 2:3, 4. "Has God clearly commanded women to not cut their hair? Those scissors will prove you are lost." "Has God commanded that his people are 'not to forsake the gathering of ourselves together?' Your failure to attend prayer meeting (and any and all other meetings) is proof you are disobeying God's clear commandment and are therefore lost." How often have we heard "God's clear commandment" that Christians are to "obey them that have the rule over you even when they are wrong" as the means to force a Christian to obey an elder even when he feels in his heart the elder is wrong? Texts like 1 John 2:3, 4 can be used to make any sincere Christian doubt his salvation and unfortunately there are many power-hungry false shepherds eager to use, or misuse, such texts to control the conscience of sincere sheep. But someone says, "What about the ten commandments? Surely this is what is meant by John." The whole context seems to say otherwise. I think "his commandments" are the ones John has been talking about in his Epistle. Look at the context of 1 John 2:3, 4. John tells us exactly what he means by "keeping God's commandments." Read his words carefully.
The great commandment, whether it be the old or the new version, is to love the brethren. Anyone who hates his brother is the worst of all liars when he claims he loves God. If many 'truly Reformed' brethren, and many of the great Puritans and Reformers, would have this text applied to their treatment of sincere brothers that disagreed with them theologically, in many cases their salvation would be suspect! How could a 'Christian' Presbyterian drown a fellow 'Christian' Baptist just because he rejected infant baptism—and that happened more than once in history! And it happened while the killers were claiming "the love of Christ" as the motivation for their "holy deed." How can someone today, in the name of Christ, distort, misrepresent, and even lie about what some brothers believe and preach—and this is happening every day—and in the same breath talk about "keeping His commandments?" In our next article we will show how a Christian is to correctly use 1st John to "examine himself" to see if his faith is genuine. We will also see that a Christian is sure of salvation in three different ways. The errors surrounding this subject occur when one method is emphasized to the neglect of the other two. ___________________ 1.Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XVIII, Section III |