Rome Took Away Assurance: Don’t be a Papist 

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

Voice, Funeral, and New Book Update

My name is Mike Abendroth. I don�t know why I�m kind of losing my voice a little bit today. I physically feel pretty good. What did I do today? I talked pretty loud at a burial, at a funeral committal, and so you go to the cemetery.

The sleeping place is the word, the etymology of the word is, and I think I had to talk louder. I officiated the funeral in the morning and then went to the cemetery for the committal, and I think I just talked louder, and maybe that�s how I lost my voice, and maybe it�s because I�ve done a couple other shows or something like that.

I think I even have my little cough thing here, and then I just coughed and stopped it. Finally, if you want, you can order Gospel Assurance on Amazon. Type in Gospel Assurance Mike Abendroth, it�ll come up $14 .99, a couple hundred page book, kind of small font too.

I mean, it could have been a lot bigger, more pages. I see some books, by the way, those little coffee table books, 60 pages, double-spaced, huge margins, like $17. What are people thinking? I have no idea what they�re thinking, and if you want to order in bulk, and some have.

I think I�ve, let�s see, people have ordered 50, 30, somebody wants to order 75 to 100, somebody wants to order another 50, books to just go through with church. I�m excited about that, and I have a few other ideas for 31-day guides, but I only have so much time in life.

Grandfatherhood, Amos, and the Birth Story

Next week it is filming for American Gospel, five parts on Gospel Assurance. So this is today part three of introductory questions about assurance because I want to make sure, oh, somebody�s calling, and I think I have to be on guard here for these calls because now I�m a grandfather, and Amos John Horek was born on October 12th, and I haven�t seen him yet, although my other children have, except Gracie, she�s in Israel.

So Gracie and I haven�t, but Kim flew back right away. She didn�t get there for the birth, but my son Luke was there, and then Maddie�s there, of course, and I mean, you better read the book of Amos now.

Kim did a nonstop from Boston to LAX, and she said, �I read the book of Amos on the way. This guy�s little nose is kind of a little crooked nose, I think it�s because it was a tough birth, and so I�m hoping it goes back.

Otherwise, he�s bound for not gospel preaching, but for MMA. See those guys that do MMA, they got the cauliflower ears and the nose all crunched over. My nose is crooked, but it�s because of baseball.

I was pitching, and whack, I can still feel that baseball hit my nose. And then everything�s numb, and then you go, �I�m wet. My face is wet, and you look down, and it�s not wet from water, or crying, or spit, it�s wet because the blood is gushing out.

Assurance and the Roman Catholic Rejection of It

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. We�re talking about important questions when it comes to assurance, just to get you thinking about the idea of what is assurance. And last time, I didn�t get to finish, but I was talking about the struggle in church history during the Reformation for the doctrine of assurance.

Many people don�t want this doctrine to be believed by their people, I think because they can get more out of them if they keep them underneath the Damocles sword, and they�re hovering over hell by a spider web type of thing.

Some religions teach that it�s wrong. Catholics teach that it�s a heresy. Roman Catholic Encyclopedia, where I ended last show, and I�ll repeat it just because it�s appalling, but at least they understand what we�re saying.

I think that�s good. At least they�re being honest with the other side. Here�s the sin of presumption. It may be defined as the condition of a soul that because of a badly regulated reliance on God�s mercy and power�I mean, could you rely on God�s mercy and power too much?

Rely on His mercy and power? This person who�s got this badly regulated reliance hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it. Do they see what they�re writing? Hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it.

Hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it. Okay, I�ll do it one more time. Hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it. Or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them.

End quote. I mean, if I was in California, I�d say, �Dude. I�d say to Cardinal Bellomine, �Dude. I�d say to Leo VIII, �Dude. Sorry, Pope Clement. You say, �Uh-oh, now be nice to the Roman Catholics because they do believe in assurance for some people.

Mary, well, she gets everything. Paul, because he had in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, it records his special trip to heaven, so he had revelation for that. And you know, Jesus, he didn�t need to have it.

He already knew stuff. There�s a man named Ludwig Ott, or maybe we�ll call him Ludwig. And he said, �You know what? To be certain on this, here�s what it says, �Sanctifying grace is possible on the grounds that one is not conscious of an unforgiven grave sin, but by no means faith which is believing with divine certainty.

What does that mean? It�s just going both ways around we go. Well, what am I going to do? Well, he said, �If you�d like to have at least some little tiny hope of certainty, make sure you read the Beatitudes, have communion a lot, Mass, have some charity for people, make sure you love Jesus and the Church, and be devoted to the Blessed Virgin.

Is sin, I mean, is assurance a sin or a blessing? I mean, how would you like to be in a system where it says, �Assurance, knowing for sure when you die, you�re going to go to heaven. It�s a mortal sin.

I mean, I just say, what a sad way to live and what a sad way to die. Presumption of assurance, the Roman Catholic Church teaches, you say this, �No matter what the future holds, I�m saved. I mean, that�s the whole book, Gospel Assurance.

For believers, no matter what occurs, I�m saved. No matter what happens, I�m saved. No matter if there�s a nuclear bomb, no matter if there�s a certain kind of president, no matter if Christians are persecuted, no matter if they take my home, no matter what happens, I�m saved.

Gregory the Great, probably walked through a gate, he said this, 7th century Pope, �The greater our sins, the more we must do to make up for them. Whether we have done enough to atone for them, we cannot know until after death.

We can never be sure of success. Assurance of salvation and the feeling of safety engendered by it is dangerous for anybody and would not be desirable, even if possible. Says who? Says who? �Dangerous and not desirable.

You say, well, that�s in the 7th century. They changed. They�re different. No, no, not my Catholic Church. Well, I can only go based on doctrine, and until they say Trent is no longer applicable, the Council of Trent, �If anyone saith that he will for certain of an absolute and infallible certainty have the great gift of perseverance unto the end, unless he has learned this by special revelation, let him be anathema, cursed, damned.

If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ�s sake, let him be anathema, damned. If anyone says that after the reception of the grace of justification, the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment so blotted out that no debt of temporal punishment remains, let him be anathema.

Whoever shall affirm that when the grace of justification is received, the offense of the penitent sinner is so forgiven and the sentence of eternal punishment reversed, that there remains no temporal punishment to be endured before his entrance into the kingdom of heaven, either in this world or in the future world, in purgatory, let him be accursed.

Who wants to live in that system? By the way, if you are friends with Roman Catholics or related to Roman Catholics or know of Roman Catholics, this is a good way to approach evangelism, assurance of salvation, because their doctrine doesn�t allow it.

Jesus’ Promise of Eternal Security

I like what Jesus said, �The works that I do in my Father�s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father�s hand.

I and the Father are one. I�ll take Jesus� words instead of Trent. I mean, why would anybody in their right mind, if they�re a leader of a religion, begin to talk this way, begin to say these things?

Well, I�ll give you a few, and I alluded to some before, but you don�t need a priest and you don�t need sacraments if you�re done, if your justification is secure. You don�t need them, right? You don�t need a priest to dole out grace as a substance or a medicine.

You can just trust in the Lord. You don�t need participation in the Church�s rituals. The Roman Catholic Church, what do they need? They instead of having justification, a declaration, once for all, all your sins pardoned, what do you need?

You need penance, sacrament of penance. You need absolutions from priests. How can assurance be undesirable? Well, to use the words of Derek Thomas, �Keeping the souls of the faithful in constant suspense.

Mohler, not Al Mohler, but a Roman Catholic scholar named Mohler said, �I think that in the neighborhood of any man who would declare himself under all circumstances assured of his salvation, I should feel very uncomfortable and should probably have difficulty to put away the thought that something like diabolical influence was here at play.

I mean, if he would have said, �Well, assurance of salvation makes you presumptuous, it makes you prideful, it leads to loose living, it leads to licentiousness, it leads to antinomianism, it leads to lack of a holy life.

Okay, I could understand that more. Diabolical influence? Friends, Rome took away assurance. Reformation gave it back. Okay, here's a good question. Pastors today, there are some pastors today, preachers, exhorters, I heard somebody call someone an exhorter, law guy.

You know what? It's clear, Reformation gives assurance because it gives people Jesus and His promises and His love. St. Clair Ferguson, �Indeed, in some senses, the Reformation was a great rediscovery of assurance.

If the gospel was the power of God for salvation, if in Christ we are accounted righteous before the Father, so the Reformers understood, since earthly fathers lavish on their children assurances of their love, protection, and provision, how much more does our Heavenly Father lavish on us His love, protection, and provision

End quote. If you've got a pastor that preaches the Word to you, well, okay, so far, so good. If you've got a pastor that does expository preaching, so far, so good. If you've got a pastor that does lectio continuum, verse by verse, pick up where you left off as the mainstay of his preaching, so far, so good.

But if that verse by verse, sequential Bible teacher who believes that Scripture is inerrant, infallible, authoritative, sufficient, clear, God's Word, divine author through human agents, they believe all that, but they preach in such a way where you don't even know you're saved.

If I brought, to use T. David Gordon's illustration, if I brought Luther in and we sat there at your church and listened to your pastor who believed all the right things about that other stuff but preached in such a way to keep you in suspense, I did not say, and I have not said in the past, that pastors can't rebuke and reprove, that pastors can't give conviction, that pastors can't use the law to expose sin in Christians, that pastors can't tell the believers that these sins that they commit as believers, as children, would not cause eternal wrath but cause the discipline of God the Father.

I'm not saying that there can't be conviction in sermons. Reprove, hear sin, rebuke, you're doing those things. But there's also comfort and encouragement. Preach the Word in season and out of season, right?

Reprove, rebuke, exhort, come alongside comfort with great patience and instruction or doctrine. Obviously, there can be preaching that convicts. Talk about complaining in light of the sovereignty of God, I stand convicted.

But then later in the sermon, I mean, when you're a dad and you spank your children or you discipline them, what do you do after the spanking, after the discipline? You love them, you reconcile, you express your love to them.

And that's sinful dads, that's sinful moms. How much more the Heavenly Father, our Father who art in heaven? Assurance is important, Rome takes it away. This was a very, very important thing in the ministry of Mike Abendroth, directed by the Lord, I'm sure.

I kept thinking, you know what, I'm going to tell people who are unbelievers or who act like unbelievers or Christians that are carnal or Christians that are immature or Christians who are sinning, how could you call yourself a Christian?

You have sin in your life, how do you call yourself a Christian? You know what? Christians sin. Rod Rosenblatt's right, Jesus died for the sins of Christians too. Rome takes away assurance. Does your pastor take away assurance and closes the sermon that way?

I did not say, does your pastor preach the law, show you where you need to be convicted, and then gives the balm of assurance. They're two different things. There are pastors, and I've talked about them here on this radio show before, that when they preach, many people who are Christians, real Christians, bruised reed Christians, smoldering wit Christians, they sit there and think, I don't even know if I'm saved.

The end, the sermon's over, that's an awful sermon. That's not a Christian sermon. It's Rome that took away assurance. Did you hear me? It's Rome that took away assurance. When your pastor who does expository preaching verse by verse takes away assurance, he's acting like Cardinal Bellamy.

He's acting like, you know what, if I offer salvation full and free, then it's some kind of diabolical influence like Moeller said. It's going to lead to loose living, it's going to lead to licentiousness, it's going to lead to lack of holiness, lack of obedience, antinomianism.

I better make sure I keep the wood going. And I talk about wood meaning woodshed. The Reformation recovered scriptures and recovered the doctrine of assurance. Does your pastor say things like this? Christian, even though you sinned this week and could be disciplined for it and probably will be, God's not angry with you.

All of his anger has been exhausted by the sun. It's called propitiation. Dear Christian, do you know you're a child of God and there's nothing that can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus?

Not even your own sin. Doesn't that break your heart for sinning? Does that make you want to repent? Does that make you want to do the right thing now out of gratitude, out of a great Savior? Don't you know that Jesus is yours and you are Jesus's?

Don't you know that Jesus loves you, dear Christian, and has a wonderful plan for your life? I wouldn't say that to an unbeliever, but people can't even say it to a believer. That sounds funny to us. Jesus loves you, Christian, and has a wonderful plan for your life and eternity.

What are we doing? It was Rome that took away assurance. Did I tell you something on this show? It was Rome that took away assurance. Pastors, if you're listening to me, don't be a Catholic, a Roman Catholic, a Papist.

All this argument, should we ever read Thomas? Should we not read Thomas? Okay, I understand. I've got the Thomistic thought in John Owen, you know, book $60, whatever. I'm not like huge Aquinas reader, but when he's right, he's right.

When Bernard of Clairvaux is right, he's right. When somebody said something, they're right, they're right, whether they're a Roman Catholic or not. But the Roman Catholics were not right on this. They were not right on assurance.

Obviously, they're not right on salvation, etc. But why do we sit underneath pastors that are so self-righteous? This is how they preach. Well, because I think maybe we're still self-righteous, and we want somebody to whack us.

What changes a Christian? Getting whacked by the law only? Are you kidding me? The law shows sin and misery. That's true. As a mirror, first use, and then it guides. My son, this is Proverbs 5. My son.

Proverbs 2, my son. Proverbs 6 and 7, my son. There are laws given. Yes, my son. This is the Merrill controversy. You receive the law from Christ, from the Father through the hands of Christ. Who's giving you the law?

Someone who loves you and has given himself for you. He's loved you with an everlasting love. He loves you more than you love yourself. What are we thinking? It was Rome that took away assurance. Grace motivates.

Look at Titus chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. The grace of God appears. What does it do? It teaches us. Say no to sin and yes to righteousness, and to wait for the Lord Jesus to come back. That's what those verses say.

Grace motivates. It fuels obedience. It fuels holy living. It fuels walking by faith, not by sight. It was Rome that took away assurance. If you, pastor, want to preach a convicting sermon, because your text is convicting.

So see, here's what happens. People are going verse by verse, and they're so atomistic. They're so grammatical, historical, that they forget it's in the context of a Christian people on the Lord's day.

It's the Lord's day. It's Jesus' day. And now they're going to give us some little section here. Well, I'm faithful to the text, and I don't want to talk about Jesus because he's not in my minutiae text.

I'm going through the Bible, word by word, verse by verse, 9 ,000 verses, 9 ,000 sermons in the book of Matthew. It's like 40 years of Isaiah 1 through 8, the New England preacher, a couple hundred years ago preached.

And so my text right here is on God's wrath, and God's holiness, and God's justice. So therefore I can't talk about compassion, and Christ Jesus, and substitutionary atonement, and literal resurrection, and how we're children of God, and we're adopted, and the Spirit of God dwells in us.

It was Rome that took away assurance. Did you get that? It was Rome that took away assurance. And what we should be doing as pastors, sure, in the Lord's Supper, examine yourself. But it's do this in remembrance of me.

It's called a means of grace, not a means of scolding. I've heard people say, well, you know, you're always after scolders, and the Bible says reprove, rebuke. Well, yeah, it doesn't say scold, though.

Scold is I can't believe you disobeyed. But what about a father that says, you know, for my glory and for your good, son, here's what I want you to do. And you haven't been doing it, and therefore, I'm going to discipline you.

I don't discipline people that aren't my children. I love you. That's why I'm going to discipline you. And here's what the pain is going to yield, and I just want you to know I'm doing it for your good.

It's the very best thing I could do for you. And then after the discipline, the Father on earth says, I love you. And that's exactly what happens here. There's nothing to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

It was Rome that took away assurance. And if you look at the confessional period of confessional standards, what is true faith? Heidelberg Catechism. It is not only a certain knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word, but also a hearty trust, which the Holy Ghost works in me by the gospel that not only do others, but to me also forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ merits.

That's wonderful. What is thy only comfort in life and death? Heidelberg question number one, that I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood is fully satisfied for all my sins and redeem me from all the power of the devil.

And so preserves me that without the will of my father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head. Yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by his Holy Spirit, he assures me, you hear that?

He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto him. Heidelberg Catechism one. Of course, when you know God loves you like that, you want to obey and you want to live heartily.

You want to be obeying because you're so assured of eternal life. You think assurance is going to make people backslide and be an antinomian and be detrimental to a pious life? And you're a Catholic. You're a Roman Catholic.

Don't do that. It was the Catholics that took away assurance and it was the Bible through the hands of the reformers that gave assurance. My name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.