AN ASSURANCE THAT TREMBLES

WHEN FORGOTTEN CLAUSES LEAD TO FORGOTTEN FEAR

BY MIKE MAZYCK

I met Chris in 2000, while standing in line on orientation day at Bible college. We immediately hit it off. Our testimonies were similar; he had also recently come out of a difficult life of drugs and worldly pursuits and had turned to God. We managed to become roommates, and over the next couple years we grew closer and closer. We went mountain biking together, worked out together, and played basketball together. We worshipped together and prayed together. We were accountability partners. As iron sharpens iron, we challenged and sharpened one another. Perhaps what we both enjoyed most, though, was our deep, and sometimes difficult, conversations about theology and the nature of this God we were trying to understand and know.

Had someone asked me during that time, Is Chris your brother in Christ?, I would have certainly answered, Yes, of course he is! Had someone asked Chris during that time if he was saved, I believe that he would also have answered, Yes. He would have professed a belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of the Living God, and that He died to forgive his sins. He would have proclaimed Christ as his Lord and Savior.

But in the 20 years that followed us graduating Bible college, something happened. Time passed.

Worldly cares crept in. The pride of life — success and wealth — crept in. Fleshly desires took root. They choked the seed of God’s Word that had been planted in Chris’ heart. Sadly, Chris has now abandoned the faith. To be clear, he has not merely backslid; he has rejected the faith. He no longer believes that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. He no longer believes the Scriptures to be the inerrant and infallible Word of God. He has proved himself to be an apostate.

Although I cannot stand in the place of Christ and pronounce final judgment on the soul of any man, every indication shows that Chris is not my brother in Christ — he is not saved. But if that is true, does it mean that he has lost his salvation? No, it does not. It means that he never had salvation in the first place. He was the seed sown among the thorns (Matthew 13:18-23) He was a tare sown among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). Chris started the race well, but he did not finish. He did not persevere to the end.

I share this story of Chris only to serve as a backdrop for a question I would like to ask you today: Do you know that you are saved? How would you answer that question?  Would it give you pause? Or would you immediately answer with a resounding Yes!?

Now I’d like to go a step further and ask you something else: How should you answer that question? For more clarity, let me ask it this way: How should you process that question before giving an answer? How are we, as professing believers, supposed to process and answer the question of whether or not we are truly saved? What is the “assurance of salvation” supposed to look like in the life of a believer, according to the Scriptures?

I would like to propose to you today that there has been a radical shift in the last 100 —200 years in the way most professing believers process and answer the most important question in life: Am I truly saved? May I further propose that this change in the way most believers process and answer that question will no doubt have eternal consequence for many.

The majority of Christians today view the “assurance of their salvation” as something that is to be settled within themselves, once and for all. They typically look to some point in the past, where a decision was made for Christ, and they proclaim themselves saved — eternally secure. They look to experiences, and what they deem to be the “fruit” those experiences bore, as evidence that they are in fact saved. When asked the question “Are you saved?” they give a casual and immediate response — “Absolutely” — and then go about their day. No need to ponder and examine; they settled that question long ago. Once saved – Always saved!

Furthermore, many would view any doubt or inquiry as to the genuineness of their salvation, whether coming from within themselves or from others, as an attack from the enemy that should be immediately cast aside.

However, for the majority of church history, up until about 150 years ago, the assurance of salvation was approached much differently. Our church fathers, and the Scriptures, distinguished between two types of assurance: present assurance and final assurance. Present assurance of their salvation was based on where they were at in their present — today. To be clear, when I say “today” I am using the word figuratively, as an all-encompassing word for the present season and moment of one’s life.

Saints of the past would walk in a “present assurance” of their salvation, based on the state of their soul today. The state of their conscience today. The fruit in their life today. Their current relationship with God’s Word. The current manifestation of their love for the brethren and the Church of Christ. They would ask themselves, What is the current trajectory of my life and the state of my inner man — today – in the present moment — in the current season I am in? Based on their answer to that question, they may or may not walk in all of the glorious fruit, and benefits, that come with a strong present assurance of their salvation.  But here is what they would certainly not do: Our forefathers, and the Apostles themselves, would not have dreamed of looking to some moment or decision or experience from the past as the basis of their assurance.

But why? Why would they not adopt the same approach as the modern believer today?  Why would they not look to that time 15 years ago when they made a decision for Christ, changed some of their sinful habits, and even got baptized? The answer to that question is this: Because they believed in final assurance. They understood that there is only one final and true test as to the genuineness of one’s salvation: Did they endure to the end? Did they persevere? Did they finish the race? They looked out at the landscape of Christianity around them and saw the same things we see today; men were dropping like flies, abandoning the faith. They saw apostates, men like my friend Chris, who once believed according to sound biblical teaching, but had now forsaken the truth, perhaps for a more progressive and tolerant approach.

Now that I have laid the foundation, I can get to the crux of the matter: As our forefathers looked out upon the landscape of Christianity and saw the great number of those who were falling away from the faith, they did not assume themselves to be above such a falling away. No, they recognized the deceitfulness of their own hearts and the power of the sin that still dwelled within them. It was their humble acknowledgment of their own weakness, combined with the warnings of Scripture, which compelled them daily to throw themselves upon the grace and power of Christ to preserve them and keep them from falling away. They enjoyed the benefits of a present assurance of their salvation, all the while knowing that they had not yet attained final assurance, and therefore, as Paul said, they needed to work out their salvation with fear and trembling! (Philippians 2:12) May we consider some of the words of the great saints that have gone before us…