Question: I struggle with assurance of my salvation. (pt. 3)
Question: I struggle with assurance of my salvation. Can you help me?
Pastor Bill responds (pt. 3):
In part 1 of this series answering your question, I urged you to read Chapter 18 of the Westminster Confession of Faith (which is one of the doctrinal standards for The Haven, OPC). Section 4 of this chapter is one of the richest statements about assurance of salvation that you will read anywhere.
Here’s a paraphrase of it: True believers in Jesus Christ may have the assurance of their salvation shaken in various ways, diminished, and interrupted. This can come when they
- become neglectful of their walk with God
- fall into some special sin which both wounds their consciences and grieves the Holy Spirit
- are overcome by some sudden or especially strong temptation.
Doubts of a true believer’s assurance of salvation may also come when God withdraws a felt sense of his gracious presence, and permits even those who truly fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light (Isaiah 50:10. See also Psalms 31:22, 51:8,12,14; 77:1-10).
Yet true believers in Jesus Christ are never completely without
- that seed of God (I John 3:9), and life of faith
- the love of Christ and their brothers and sisters in Christ
- that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, their assurance may be revived at what God knows to be the right time; and by which, during the season of their doubts about their salvation, they are supported by God and kept from total despair. (See Luke 22:32)
To which we say: Thanks be to God!