Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

Blessed Assurance

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How Can I Be Sure?

We are a skeptical people. Whether its just an inborn lack of trust going back to the fall and the serpent’s deception, or a jaded outlook after receiving your 50th email from a Nigerian Prince who needs your help moving his father’s money out of the country, we are filled with doubts about the world around us.

It would be nice if there was some way to trust what we read in the papers, or if our email inboxes weren’t filled with junk, but you’re hard pressed to find any real guarantee like that today. 

That’s why it is such a blessing that we can have an assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ. When everything else is riddled with doubt and suspicion, we have this firm foundation, this assurance of our faith in Christ. We know that in Him we are secure, our destiny is fixed, the outcome is determined.

The Westminster Confession affirms this assurance: 

Such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity; endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; which hope shall never make them ashamed.

Westminster confession of Faith XVIII

What’s even more wonderful is that this assurance is not primarily rooted in experience. Assurance is not a whim or strong feeling we conjure up inside. Assurance doesn’t depend upon the strength of your conviction or eloquence when you first prayed to receive Christ, nor upon your ability to keep on the straight and narrow. As with every good and perfect gift from our Heavenly Father, assurance of salvation comes through faith, founded upon the graces promises of salvation in God’s word. Promises like:

  • Job 19:25–26 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,
  • Ps 23:4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
  • Ro 8:28–29 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
  • 1 Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

J.C. Ryle writes, “it cannot be wrong to feel confidently in a matter where God speaks unconditionally, to believe decidedly when God promises decidedly, to have a sure persuasion of pardon and peace when we rest on the word and oath of Him that never changes.” Our assurance, first and foremost, is rooted in the very Word of God. 

It follows, then, that another pillar of our assurance of salvation lies in the fact that we are justified by faith in the perfect and completed work of Christ for us. Our salvation is His work, His gift given to us, His covenant promise. We receive this gift by faith, but we contribute nothing to our salvation but the need. If our salvation were dependent upon us, we would inevitably lose it, because we are deeply flawed and corrupted in our inward being. So our great assurance is in the truth of God’s grace and the salvation He so freely offers in Jesus Christ.

And though the promises of God are available to all in His Word, it is important to remember that not all come to an equal measure of assurance. It is possible to never have full assurance and still be saved. The father who brought his son to Jesus to be healed cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). 

On this, Ryle also notes, “All God’s children have faith; not all have assurance… I do not shrink from saying that by grace a man may have sufficient faith to flee to Christ—sufficient faith really to lay hold on Him, really to trust in Him, really to be a child of God, really to be saved and yet to his last day be never free from much anxiety, doubt and fear… Faith, let us remember, is the root, and assurance is the flower. Doubtless you can never have the flower without the root; but it is no less certain you may have the root and not the flower.”

Friends, I pray that by the same grace by which you’ve been granted faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation, you may also find the great joy of that faith in your assurance in His completed and perfect work for you.

SDG

Go Up, Leaning on Jesus

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Every now and then, when feeling overwhelmed or fighting through writers block, I’ll turn to old books, and page through for inspiration. Sometimes I find gems that spark the writing fire. Other times I wander upon whole treasures that just need shared. Here’s one of the latter.

The following is a letter from Pastor Robert Murray McCheyne to a young man simply identified as “a soul seeking Jesus.” I found this letter to be such a great reminder, not just for those seeking Christ, but for those who know Him but often wander from Him. Cling to Christ, lean wholly upon HIm. Own the fact that you are a sinner, and that Christ saves sinners. This is where we find Christ, strong and mighty to save…

But let me have you read McCheyne – and may you be strengthened and encouraged in your walk with Christ.

Dear Friend, I have heard of you, and have been praying for you, that your eye may rest on Jesus, and that your soul may lie in perfect peace under his blood shed for the sins of many. I have been thanking my Father, too, for dealing so bountifully with you. “He is the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts.” 

I will give you a sweet verse to meditate upon: “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon the beloved?”—Song 8:5. 

Do you think this is your position? Truly this world is a wilderness if you have seen it rightly. It is a place of guilt and shame. Every natural heart is a wilderness—a dead place without a drop of living water; and then all natural hearts put together make up a wilderness world. The whole world lies in wickedness. There are few that know and love Jesus, and these few are panting to get more of the living water. But if you have truly fled to Jesus, you are coming up from the wilderness. Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” 

Have you found Jesus truly? Do you feel willing to be all vile, all hell-deserving in yourself, and to let God’s dear Son be all your shield and righteousness? Oh! make sure of this. 

Never mind what man thinks of you. I would not give a straw for the opinions of men, as to whether I was safe or no. It is not what man thinks of us that will cover us on the judgment-day. 

Oh no! You must be in Jesus, sitting at his feet, allowing Him to wash your stains away, allowing Him to enwrap your guilty soul in divine righteousness. If you were lying at the bottom of the sea, no eye could see your deformities: so when the infinite ocean of Immanuel’s righteousness flows-over the soul, you are swallowed up as it were in Christ. Your blackness is never seen, only his fairness; and thus a God of truth can say, “Behold thou art fair; behold thou art fair, my love. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.”—Song 4:1–7. 

Keep this always in memory; and when guilt comes on the conscience, as it will, lie down again beneath the righteousness of Jesus. Never lose sight of this. Jesus must be seen by the Father instead of our guilty soul. It is no change in our black soul that is to be our covering. You must leave self, and stand in your Elder Brother. Hide behind Him. Let the Father’s eye fall on Him, not on you. This is what Jesus wants. He died to be a shelter for such as you. This is what the Father wants; for He is not willing that any should perish. If you are seen by the Father a naked, guilty sinner, you must die; there is no help for it. But if Jesus appear for you—if you hide in his wounds like the dove in the cliffs of the rock, and under his snowy raiment—then the Father himself loveth you, and now you are coming up from the wilderness. 

Every hour that strikes, that is an hour less between you and glory. Oh! do not grieve to part with the world if you are in Christ: an hour with Christ will make up for all your griefs and pains. Half an hour in the presence of our God will make us forget a lifetime of agony. 

“Leaning on her beloved!” Is this the position of your soul? Do you feel empty, weak, and helpless; and do you see Him mighty to save, able to save to the uttermost? “His legs are like pillars of marble.” This is Christ’s glory, that He justifies sinners who have no righteousness, and sanctifies souls that have no inborn holiness. Let Jesus bear your whole weight. Remember, He loves to be the only support of the soul. He is a jealous Savior. He wants to be entirely trusted. There is nothing that you can possibly need but you will find it in Him. 

“All my springs are in Thee.” Do you want righteousness? He has the spirit of a weaned child to give you.—Ps. 131. Do you want love! He is the fountain of love: all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him amen. I am sure, if you get a glimpse of Him, you would lay your head in His breast and stay there. May the Spirit anoint your eyes to see Him more and more, and soften your heart to lean on Him. Those that have leaned on Him through the wilderness shall sit with Him on the throne.—Rev. 3:21. 

Farewell, dear soul! the Lord feed you sweetly, as he feeds the flowers, by silent drops of dew.—Ever yours, etc.

From: McCheyne, Robert Murray, and Andrew A. Bonar. Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne. Edinburgh; London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1894. Print.