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"THE WICKED SIN OF GIVING
ASSURANCE"
First John 5.13
EXPOSITION:
1. This morning I preach against one of the
most common sins committed in Churches today. It’s a sin committed by
pastors, by personal workers, by so-called soul winners, by youth workers,
by Christian camp counselors, by evangelists, by Christians and Christian
leaders of almost every stripe and persuasion.
2. It’s a sin that is committed against the
unsuspecting by the unsuspecting. It’s a sin that is committed both
openly and discreetly. Those who commit this sin typically believe they
are doing right. Those who are sinned against typically believe they are
having right done to them.
3. I assert to you that it is a wicked sin,
that it has the potential to bring great harm to those the sin is
committed against, and that it is a sin that has wreaked great havoc and
done untold damage to the cause of Christ. What is this wicked sin? It’s
the wicked sin of giving to someone the assurance of his salvation.
4. It is most incredible that decisionists
howl when I try to persuade them to be more careful about who they
baptize, about who they accept into Church membership, about who they
pronounce to be truly converted. They cry, almost in unison and with one
voice, "You can’t tell for sure who is saved and who is not
saved."
5. Now, I will agree that no one can expect
to know such things with 100% accuracy, but I have shown again and again
from God’s Word that more can be known about the state of a person’s
soul than is generally admitted these days by "know nothing"
decisionists.
6. Yet, while these same pastors will
strenuously object and deny that anyone can know to any degree who is
saved and who is lost, that we must certainly take every man’s word as
our guide to his spiritual condition, they will then turn around and take
it upon themselves to give assurance to some poor soul that he is
certainly saved. "We can’t know who is saved and who is lost,"
they maintain, and yet they will with the next breath, and without
noticing their own inconsistency, take whoever they can to First John 5.13
and do their best to give them assurance of salvation.
7. Turn to that verse in God’s Word, if you
please, for it is there that this wicked sin is most usually perpetrated
against unsuspecting victims of spiritual malpractice. When you have found
First John 5.13 please stand for the reading of God’s Word: "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."
8. This verse was written to John’s readers
to sum up some things for them. He wanted them to be able to draw the
proper conclusions from objective evidence he had presented to them
earlier in this epistle. His goal was to show them that they had, indeed,
believed on the name of the Son of God, that they had good reason for
feeling with confidence that they really did have eternal life, and to
fortify their faith in the future.
9. But rather than show you what this verse
teaches, which I will do at another time, I want to pick around this scene
of many crimes to provide for you an understanding of the foul deeds that
are so oftentimes done here, and to try and rectify any such crimes as
this which have been committed against you personally.
10. Three questions:
1A. First, HOW IS THIS SIN COMMITTED?
There are any number of scenarios in which
some troubled and uninformed person is typically sinned against by
someone who arrogantly presumes to give him assurance of his salvation.
This crime can be perpetrated by a counselor who is all of 18 or 19
years of age, working at some Christian camp. It can be perpetrated by a
so-called altar worker who deals with folks following a sermon preached
by the Church’s pastor. It can be perpetrated by a pastor, himself, in
his office. It can even be perpetrated against a poor little bus kid by
a bus ministry worker or bus captain.
Who are these perps? These perps, which is
police slang for someone who perpetrates a crime, range from Sunday
School teachers to preachers, from bus workers to altar counselors, from
missionaries to evangelists. But anyone can be a perp. All you have to
do to be a perpetrator of this crime is presume to give assurance to
someone that he truly is born again, that he really has trusted Christ,
that he is converted.
So, though there are many different
scenarios in which people of every stripe and persuasion can conceivably
commit this spiritual crime against an unsuspecting victim, let me
address three of the most likely scenarios:
1B. First, the wicked sin of giving
assurance is frequently given after a prayer to receive Christ.
1C. Though there is not a single
Scriptural mandate for praying as a means of getting saved, not a
single apostolic directive to get saved by means of praying, and not a
single instance in the New Testament of a sinner praying what most
folks would likely recognize as a prayer to get saved, most people who
claim to be Christians feel that sinners are best saved by means of a
prayer.
2C. I am not against praying. I voice no
opposition to praying. I simply point out that there is no Scriptural
mandate for directing a sinner to get saved by praying. Be that as it
is, it’s a fact that most sinners who are dealt with are guided by
the people who deal with them to pray to receive Christ.
Fine.
3C. My real objection is what invariably
follows that prayer. After praying, ostensibly to receive Christ, the
pastor, the personal worker, the altar worker, the camp counselor, the
high powered personal soul winner-evangelist will typically take the
person who has prayed to First John 5.13. There the sinner will be
shown the verse, will be asked several questions, and will be directed
to presume, as the Christian worker has presumed, that he should have
assurance that he is saved. But what if he is not truly born again?
2B. The wicked sin of giving
assurance is also given when there is doubt.
1C. It may occur at work with a so-called
Christian coworker. It may occur in the pastor’s office or when
talking to the youth director. Perhaps it’s a child talking to her
mother.
2C. Whatever the specific situation, it
usually proceeds like this: The doubter expresses concern that he or
she may not really be saved. In response to this, the person whose
counsel is sought, simply assuming, I guess, that God wants anyone
with doubts to be made to feel more comfortable, regardless of their
real spiritual condition, then proceeds by whatever means available to
convince the doubting person that there is nothing to doubt and that
assurance of salvation is proper. "Hey, it’s wrong not to have
assurance," they communicate.
3C. "Did you pray this prayer?"
"Did you do this?" Such sophisticated and probing questions,
I say sarcastically, are asked, never imagining that a person can pray
a prayer, or do this or that, and still be lost. Never is considered
the possibility that a sinner can believe in vain (First Corinthians
15.2) or have faith that is not unto salvation, such as Abraham had
for years before his actual conversion.
4C. It’s never even imagined that the
reason for the doubts and concerns a person expresses is the
convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. It’s never considered
that some people who have doubts about their salvation have their
doubts because they are actually lost and stand condemned in the sight
of God. So, what if the person you give assurance to is lost?
3B. Then, this wicked sin of
giving assurance is also perpetrated when serious sin is committed.
1C. Fornication? Adultery? Drug abuse?
Drunkenness? Grand theft auto? Gluttony? The solution for such sins as
these, apparently, is to direct the guilty party to confess it to God
as being wrong, so he can feel better about himself, First John 1.9.
Then First John 5.13 is pulled out and assurance is once again given.
2C. Why don’t such people just turn to
First Corinthians 6.9-10 and tear those verses out of the Bible?
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
3C. Now, granted, not everyone who
commits a sin on this list is always lost. But neither is everyone who
commits these sins always saved. Some people are so committed to
giving assurance to every single person guilty of these sins that,
like the Pharisees of old, they make "the commandment of God of
none effect by" their "tradition," Matthew 15.6.
2A. Next, WHY IS THIS SIN
COMMITTED?
Surely those guilty of this crime
do not knowingly sin against God and the people they counsel in this
way. To be sure, I do not question the sincerity of these perpetrators,
only their sense. I do not challenge their love of God, only their
learning. I would not accuse them of not being intelligent, only of not
being informed. But as with any sin of presumption, this sin of giving
assurance of salvation to people is wrong. But why is this sin
committed? I can only speak from my own experience as a Christian who
has committed this sin more times than I care to remember. God help me.
1B. First, there is confusion
about security and assurance.
1C. My friends, the eternal
security of the believer is a simple Bible fact. Nothing is "able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord," Romans 8.38-39. "Sealed with that Holy Spirit of
promise," Ephesians 1.13. And Philippians 1.6: "Being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in
you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
2C. This is just a sampling of
verses too numerous to count which attest to God’s saving and
keeping power in the life of every sinner to has fled to Christ for
safety and security. The eternal security of the believer in Jesus
Christ is a fact. Whether you believe it or not, whether you accept it
or not, it is true!
3C. Assurance, on the other
hand, is something else entirely. While security is true whether a
person believes it or not, assurance is all about feelings, assurance
is all about personal opinion, assurance is all about my own
estimation of my relationship with Christ. If eternal security has to
do with what you know by your mental faculties, assurance of salvation
has to do with what you think to be true by your experience, by your
feelings, and in your guts.
4C. Another comment. As eternal
security is a fact that never changes, assurance is a feeling that
most certainly does change. Or at least it’s supposed to change, as
I shall establish beyond any doubt in an upcoming message.
5C. Thus, while eternal
security is a Bible doctrine which is teachable and is supposed to be
taught, assurance of salvation is a feeling that is supposed to be
bestowed by the Holy Spirit of God, as He bears witness in the mind
and heart to the believer of his soul’s condition. Not realizing the
distinction between security and assurance, many seek to persuade
people of assurance when they ought to limit their instruction to the
doctrine of eternal security. That’s one reason this wicked sin is
committed, not properly distinguishing between assurance and security.
2B. The other reason this sin is
committed is related to contempt for the Holy Spirit’s ministry.
1C. I know that decisionists
would object to my claim that they hold the Holy Spirit’s ministry
in contempt, but I stand by my claim.
2C. Decisionists are so
unconsciously contemptuous of the Spirit’s ministry that they ignore
the Holy Spirit’s role in convicting sinners of sin, they ignore the
Holy Spirit’s role in the miracle of the new birth, and they
completely intrude on the Holy Spirit’s sole right to work in a
convert’s heart and mind to grant to him the blessing of
salvation’s assurance.
3C. Not granting the Holy
Spirit the right to give assurance to who He will, and to withhold
assurance from who He will, the perpetrator of this crime tramples on
holy ground with his profane shoes on, presuming to know what only the
Spirit of God can possibly know, and making pronouncements about a
soul’s condition that he has no right to pass judgment on.
4C. It is one thing to conclude
that a person is lost. Such conclusions are part and parcel of the
pastoral ministry. But no man has any right to go beyond the
conclusion that a person is hopefully converted. Only the Holy Spirit
has the certainty of any man’s soul to grant him assurance. My
opposition is against those who delude others with false assurances.
5C. "The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God," Romans 8.16. Where in God’s Word is any Christian given
the right to intrude on such matters as giving assurance that only the
Holy Spirit has the right to give? Yet pastors, youth workers, Sunday
School teachers, bus ministry workers, youth camp counselors, and
others engage in this heinous crime continuously.
3A. Finally, WHAT IS THIS
SIN’S DAMAGE? WHAT’S THE HARM THAT’S DONE?
"Pastor, this is a common
practice in fundamental and evangelical circles. What’s the real harm
done by giving someone assurance of his salvation? What does it
hurt?"
Four quick responses to deal with
an issue that really needs an entire book to treat properly:
1B. First, when assurance is
given conversion is presumed.
1C. How do you know that person
really got saved when he went through the motions of praying to trust
Christ? Don’t you know enough people who prayed a sinner’s prayer
and who did not get saved to see for yourself the risk of giving
assurance to someone?
2C. What great harm is done
when a person who is still lost is persuaded that he should have
assurance of his salvation, simply because he doesn’t fully
understand First John 5.13.
3C. I wonder how many lost
people are running around Los Angeles County because overly zealous
Christian workers have persuaded a whole generation of bus kids that
they should be assured of a salvation they do not really possess,
thereby guaranteeing they will not be open to the Gospel in the
future. Why should they be? They’re already converted . . . they
think!
2B. Second, conviction and
correction is ignored.
1C. Let me state here and prove
at another time that assurance of salvation is not a constant, but is
rightly given to Christians by the Holy Spirit when we do right, and
then taken from Christians when we do wrong. Real assurance is never
given by the Holy Spirit to the unconverted.
2C. So what happens when
assurance is presumed to be given willy nilly by the ignorant pastor
or Christian worker? By giving false assurance to people he may be
interfering with the Holy Spirit’s convicting work in the life of a
lost person, or interfering in the Holy Spirit’s correcting and
chastising ministry in the life of a Christian.
3C. In either case the damage
done can be incalculable, with the lost person staying lost and the
Christian not being properly dealt with by the Holy Spirit because of
such interference.
3B. Related to what i have just
said is the corollary that conversion is not urged.
1C. How many times have
children gone to their mothers under conviction of sin, only to have
mom give them assurance of their salvation? Pastors, youth workers,
camp counselors; so many are focused on giving assurance instead of
urging the anguished sinner to flee to Christ.
2C. I know of a pastor guilty
of many adulteries. He attended a world famous counseling ministry a
man broken by his sins. But he emerged after months of counseling full
of confidence and assurance, only to commit adultery again and again.
Instead of urging him to get saved they gave him assurance.
4B. Thereby, fourth, nullifying
scripture.
1C. Do you not nullify
Scripture when you give assurance to those the Bible says are
unconverted? Do you not nullify Scripture when you impede the
convicting work of the Holy Spirit and discount His convicting work in
the life of a lost person who erroneously thinks he is saved?
2C. My friends, the Lord Jesus
Christ’s accusation of making the Word of God of none effect, by
adhering to traditions instead of obeying God’s Word, is a serious
charge, Mark 7.13.
3C. And I am convinced that
this bad habit of giving assurance to people whenever they feel
uncomfortable, whenever they are under conviction, whenever they pray
and are not sure they are saved, is a classic example of a tradition
carrying more weight with its practitioners than the Word of God.
CONCLUSION:
1. Let me state my position
clearly. Let me state what I believe to be the Scriptural position
clearly: The Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of giving assurance to whom
He will and by what means He chooses. He neither urges in His Word nor
desires for you or me or anyone else to give anyone assurance that he is
saved.
2. That’s a ministry He has
reserved to Himself, and men trespass on forbidden territory when they
presume to do the Holy Spirit’s job for Him by giving to people a false
assurance of their salvation.
3. Now, before this morning’s
sermon brother Isenberger comes to lead us as we stand to sing.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Let me be perfectly clear in
this matter of giving someone a false assurance of his salvation. I think
assurance of salvation is a wonderful thing. It’s a blessing. But
assurance of salvation should rightly be given to a Christian only by the
Holy Spirit of God. Who else knows for sure that a person is truly saved?
2. Whenever assurance of salvation
is given to a person by another human being that assurance must certainly
be a false assurance. To put it another way, it is wrong for you to feel
confident that you are a Christian because I am confident that you are a
Christian. That is not Scriptural assurance of salvation.
3. Let me ask you four brief
questions before we are dismissed. Think these questions over. Assurance
is an important but misunderstood blessing in the Christian’s life, if
it’s assurance that comes from the Holy Spirit.
1A. First, WHAT KIND OF
ASSURANCE DO YOU HAVE?
1B. Most people with assurance of
salvation are assured that they are saved because someone at one time or
another gave them assurance, by pointing out a Bible verse to them and
insisting that the verse applied to them. Did that happen to you? If it
did then you have an assurance of salvation, but it isn’t given by the
Holy Spirit and is entirely unrelated to whether or not you are really
converted.
2B. Here’s another clue. Do you
have assurance of salvation based upon something that took place in the
past? Are you sure you’re saved because one Sunday night in 1973 you
did something? Again, you have an assurance, but it’s not the
assurance the Holy Spirit is pleased to give. How do I know? The
assurances of salvation that the Spirit of God gives, according to the
Bible, are always related to the present in a believer’s life, never
to the past! So, you have an assurance, all right, but, again, it’s
unrelated to being truly born again.
2A. Second, WHAT KIND OF
ASSURANCE SHOULD YOU HAVE?
If you have assurance of your
salvation that is true to God’s Word, that really comes from the Holy
Spirit bearing inner witness that you truly are a child of God and that
all is well with your soul, then there are no less than two
characteristics about that assurance I want to now point out to you:
1B. First, the assurance comes
and goes.
1C. And this should not
surprise you. After all, assurance is a feeling, a feeling that the
Holy Spirit will give to you if you truly are born again. And
everyone’s feelings comes and go, don’t they?
2C. But if you are born again
and disobedient the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched, and He turns
His attention, not to giving you assurance, but to correcting you and
disciplining you to obedience. During that process of correction and
discipline your assurance will weaken and may even disappear for a
while, properly frightening you. "Am I truly saved?" Maybe.
Maybe not. Let’s find out for sure.
3C. An assurance that ebbs and
flows is an assurance that motivates a person to be truly sure he or
she is converted, counseling with the pastor and seeking God’s face.
But an assurance that never wavers, which is not assurance the Spirit
of God gives, makes a person arrogant and cocky, refusing to even
consider the possibility that his sinful behavior may indicate he is
lost.
2B. Second, the assurance is
based upon the Holy Spirit’s present dealings in your life.
1C. Read the Bible front to
back and you will never find present assurance of salvation based upon
anything that occurred in the past. So, if you base your assurance on
a prayer that you prayed 10 years ago, a commitment you made 6 months
ago, or anything else in the past, you have false assurance.
2C. Recognize that both
Christians and unbelievers can have a false assurance of salvation,
but only the Christian can have legitimate assurance of real salvation
from the Holy Spirit, and He always gives assurance based upon what is
presently happening in the believer’s life, not on anything that
actually or supposedly occurred in the past.
3C. May I provide for you just
two of the many verses that I could use in support of what I have just
stated? Turn to First John 2.3: "And hereby we do know that we
know him, if we keep his commandments." "We do know"
and "we keep" translate present active verbs, meaning the
assurance is right now, based upon what is happening right now,
currently keeping God’s commandments. Thus, the Holy Spirit gives
assurance to those who are presently obedient to God’s Word. No
obedience? No assurance.
4C. Turn also to John 13.35:
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if
ye have love one to another." Here, too, assurance to others and
to your own selves comes when you have love one believer to another
believer. Not that you used to love Christians, but that you presently
love Christians. And again, no obedience, no assurance.
5C. Both of these verses, and
many others as well, show that assurance is based upon present
occurrences in a believer’s life. As well, assurance is necessarily
seen as something that comes and goes, quite unlike the type of false
assurance that is given by these spiritual interlopers today who twist
and distort Scripture to take away the Holy Spirit’s unique role of
giving assurance to those He indwells.
3A. Third, HOW DO YOU GET THE
KIND OF ASSURANCE THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES?
1B. First, let me say that the
kind of assurance the Holy Spirit gives is not given by other people.
That is, the Holy Spirit will not arrange for some human being to
comfort you with the confidence that he indwells you. How can any man
know for sure who is indwelt by the Spirit of God? And even if a person
is converted, by what right does any man interpose himself between the
Holy Spirit and someone with whom He is dealing?
2B. Rather than rely upon
fallible men to whisper secrets of comfort into your spiritual ears, the
Holy Spirit chooses, rather, to rely upon his own dealings with you,
using his own chosen means, as Romans 8.16 so powerfully suggests:
"the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God." How the Holy Spirit accomplishes this is a matter
for us to thoroughly deal with on other occasions. The thing I want you
to now see is that the Holy Spirit does give assurance, so you don’t
need to get assurance from some man.
4A. Finally, HOW DOES A PERSON
LOSE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION?
1B. If you are asking how a
person loses false assurance of salvation, which does not come from the
Holy Spirit, then I am afraid I have bad news.
1C. Most professing Christians
have false assurance. As well, most professing Christians seem
completely opposed to the idea of forfeiting their false assurance in
favor of a Scriptural assurance that comes from the Holy Spirit.
2C. So the only likely way a
professing Christian will ever be rid of a false hope, of false
assurance, is if he is willing to allow someone to rip it from his
grasp. By the way, that is my objective. I purpose to rip away false
assurances of salvation so room will be made in you life for genuine
assurance . . . unless, of course, you are lost, in which case genuine
assurance will only come after you are truly converted.
2B. But what about genuine
assurance of salvation? How can a person lose the assurance once given
to him by the Holy Spirit?
1C. Now you understand, that
such a situation can only occur if a person is truly converted,
because the Holy Spirit will never give genuine assurance to a lost
men. Lost men with assurance of salvation are deluding themselves, or
are being deluded.
2C. How, then, can a real
Christian lose real assurance? Let me describe for you the cycle: A
sinner gets saved and is immediately indwelt by the Holy Spirit of
God. Living for Christ, faithful in Church and experiencing spiritual
growth, the babe in Christ feels assurance through the Holy Spirit’s
ministry in his life and personality. But let’s say he sins, and
continues to sin, thereby grieving the Spirit of God. He will then
lose his assurance, which is only proper.
3C. Now, since he is truly born
again we can be confident that he will begin to experience
chastisement from His heavenly Father, Hebrews 12.6-8:
6
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth.
7
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then
are ye bastards, and not sons.
4C. May I point out that this
very act of chastisement from God, in itself, gives assurance? And
since it is chastisement from God it will have its restorative effect,
and the Christian will once again begin to demonstrate the obedience
that the Holy Spirit blesses and gives delight to.
CONCLUSION:
1. Now, is this the pattern of your
life? Or are you cocksure and confident that you are saved, sealed and
sure of heaven no matter what sins and wickedness you are involved in?
2. May I say to you that if you
have such an assurance it is not, I repeat it is not, assurance that comes
from the Holy Spirit. Rather, it smacks of a false assurance given to you
at some point in your life by someone who misinterpreted First John 5.13,
or twisted some other passage in God’s wonderful Word.
3. Cast off that false assurance,
that confidently rests in the opinion of another person, in favor of an
assurance that comes from the precious Holy Spirit of God, as He indwells
and has His way in the life of an obedient and consecrated child of God.
4. Forsake the arrogant cockiness
of the false assurance, and seek the assurance that God has for His
children, the assurance that seeks reassurance, the assurance that gets
reassurance. |
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