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What is assurance? What is the difference between security and assurance? Is there false assurance? How do you increase assurance?
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 ministry, Mike Abendroth. And finally, to the praise of the glory of His grace, I�m a grandpa. Grandpa, what am I going to be called? Poppy. I think I want to be called Poppy.
Big Poppy. Whatever the child calls me, that�s what I�ll be named, I�m sure. My daughter Haley and her husband Marty welcomed a little grandson into the world on October 12th. It�s October 14th today in real time.
In no-go time, it�s later than that. Anyway, mom and son, my daughter and my grandson, are doing well. They�ll probably be home sometime later today. And my grandson�s name is Amos John Horek. Now we could call him A .J., we could call him famous.
Sounds kind of like a Puritan preacher, don�t you think? A good Puritan, an English reformer. Amos John Horek. I hope he gets the law and gospel right. What are we known for on No Compromise Radio? Well, besides antinomianism, I preached last week on Ecclesiastes 5 about not loving money.
I defy anyone who�s rational to just listen to that and think I don�t care about the third use of the law and law for giving God glory as we obey it and guiding us for our own good. But anyway, what are we known for here?
Law gospel distinction, duplex gratia, Christ for pardon, Christ for power, Christ-centered preaching. What are we known to stand against? Anything that attacks sola fide, like federal vision. Don�t let anybody tell you, �Well, it�s a living faith.
You�re saved by a living faith only. No, no, that�s loyal faith, loving faith, that�s not faith alone. Knowledge is sent in trust. Don�t let anybody trick you with this living faith thing. And I�m also after scolders, people that scold instead of encourage.
So there�s a time for discipline, there�s a time for conviction, but I think the tincture of scolding is something we ought not to have. I don�t know why I�m losing my voice. I just officiated a funeral for a congregant here named Scott Hilt.
And Scott was 65 and last week fell over with a heart attack and went to glory. And I have to tell you that it�s a lot better to do funerals when you know the person�s a Christian and you see fruit in their life and evidence in their life.
Obviously there�s stuff in their life that I can�t see, right, attitude fruit, love, joy, and peace. You can see action fruit, a desire for the word, a desire to serve the saints, a desire to sing his praises, a desire for evangelism.
And for that, I�m glad. Still sad, but as Ecclesiastes says, it�s better to go to a house of mourning than a house of feasting. And when you go to a party, you go to a Patriots game party or a Super Bowl party or what are some other parties that people aren�t allowed to go to if they�re Christians, frat parties, you never say to yourself, �I�m going to die one day.
I mean, maybe once in a while you do, but at a funeral, it�s true. So I was glad to preach the good news today about the resurrection and life of the Lord and offer forgiveness to all those who had placed their faith alone in him.
Not a living faith, but faith alone. Don�t forget, if you want to order Gospel Assurance, a 31-day guide to assurance that I have compiled, these 22 authors about assurance, talking both about Jesus and assurance, you can go to Amazon, $14 .99.
If you want a bunch of them, so sorry, excuse me, you can email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. And if you want to buy 10 or more, I can get you a deal. All right. So, so much for that. Speaking of assurance, see that leading right there?
See that segue? I think I want to do a series on assurance. I�ve talked about it before, but not necessarily as comprehensive. I mean, the new book comes out, Gospel Assurance, I�m going to be doing some TV shows for American Gospel called Gospel Assurance, therefore, why don�t we do some radio shows on Gospel Assurance?
There have been other people who�ve chosen that name, Gospel Assurance. I think one�s Gospel Assurance and Warnings maybe or something, but this one�s called Gospel Assurance, a 31-day guide to assurance.
Not devotional, but a guide. And I did write the introduction, I don�t know, 6 ,000 words, there�s some hymns at the back, lots of quotes after every 31 day, after each day, rather, for 31 days. And today I think I want to start off with some introductory questions about assurance that I think will help you.
I don�t know how many I�m going to get through today, I�ve got quite a few, but today on No Compromise Radio, Gospel Assurance. And this ties together with all that I�ve been talking about in the last five to ten years of this ministry.
Five to eight years, Christ for pardon, Christ for power, Christ for assurance, objectively looking to the Lord Jesus and his love and his promises in person, then looking at the inner testimony of the Spirit of God in our lives and fruit and evidence that the Spirit of God works, and in that order.
Pretty much, if you had to summarize my view of Gospel Assurance, it would be what Luther said, �When I look to myself, or when I look at myself, I don�t see how I could be saved, but when I look at the Lord Jesus, I don�t see how I could be lost.
Very, very interesting, is it not? So today on No Compromise Radio, some questions, introductory questions, about assurance. All right, ready? Here we go. Number one, first introductory question, what is Gospel Assurance?
What kind of definition? If I ask you the question, how would you define assurance, I wonder what you would say. Somebody comes up and says, what�s assurance? Why would you want to read a book called Gospel Assurance?
Bruce Demarest says that assurance is, quote, �the confidence of believers in Christ that notwithstanding their mortal, sinful condition, they are irrevocably children of God and heirs of heaven. Isn�t that interesting?
I think that�s very interesting. I like the way he puts it. Okay, so we have confidence, we have surety, think of the root word �assure�, found in �assure�, sure, we�re sure, and we have that confidence, we�re trusting that even though we�re sinners, we get to go to heaven, we�re children of God, simul justus et peccator, right?
The thing that Luther taught us was very important, simultaneously just yet sinful. So how can we, as sinful people, sinful Christians, still be sure that we get to go to heaven and that we�re irrevocably children of God?
We know we�re sinners, we know we deserve death and wrath, and yet God has forgiven every sin, and we�re confident in that, we�re trusting, we believe that�s true, and that�s a nice pillow for our souls, that we say, �Oh, I know I am forgiven.
It includes what? I know I�m free from the guilt of sin, I know I have a relationship with the Father that�s no longer enemy, but child, I know that God is my Father, and through the work of Jesus the Son, applied by the Holy Spirit, I�m going to heaven when I die.
I can say, �Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Write that down right now. Absent, present. Here�s what Sinclair Ferguson says of assurance, �It is the conscious confidence that we are in a rightly relationship with God through Christ.
It is the confidence that we have been justified and accepted by God in Christ, regenerated by His Spirit and adopted into His family, and that through faith in Him we will be kept for the day when our justification and adoption are consummated in the regeneration of all things.
That�s good. I ask you the question, can you say with confidence, with Paul in Galatians 2 .20, �The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. He, Jesus, gave Himself for me, the risen Savior. He�s my mediator, my friend, my Savior, my advocate, I�m sure.
John the Apostle said in 1 John 5 .13, �These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
You can know. That makes me think of Job. Can you say with Job, �I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see.
That�s what gospel assurance is. Gospel assurance says with David, �Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23, verse 4, �I belong to Jesus, and I receive all His benefits through faith and through faith alone, and I will enjoy heaven, and I will enjoy ultimate glorification. The Bible calls it full assurance of understanding, full assurance of hope, full assurance of faith, that I have a relationship with God as friend, as child, no longer as enemy.
I am a family member of God. Can you say that? Because of what Jesus did, His life, His death, burial, resurrection? St. Clair Ferguson says, �The assurance of salvation is the assurance of Jesus. I have Jesus.
He is mine, and I am His, and I know that by faith, and I accept what the Bible teaches about a relationship with God, and I have this firm and stable constancy of heart, as John Calvin calls it. You know, there's an interesting story of Daniel Webster Whittle, and I like this story because he was born in Massachusetts, as we come to you in beautiful downtown Worcester.
And in 1840, he entered into the world, Massachusetts, and he was a cashier at Wells Fargo when he was a teenager, and in his 20s, and he was a night watchman, and he got down on his knees in the vault and said, �God, would you save me
He later becomes a superintendent of a Sunday school in Chicago, and he meets his wife. He is off joining the army in 1861 as a second lieutenant, and in 1862, civil war begins, and he heads off. But before he goes, he gets married, and he said, �My dear mother was a devout Christian, and parted from me with many a tear, and followed me with many a prayer.
She had placed a New Testament in my pocket of the haversack that she had arranged for me. I wonder what's going to happen. This is kind of exciting. Well, he becomes a major, and he gets wounded in his sword arm, and he gets his arm amputated and stays in a prisoner of war camp.
He looks for something to read, and what do you know? He has a New Testament that his mom had placed there. He starts reading it, reading it, reading it, and the nurses notice that he's reading it, and so they wake him up one night and said that there's a man dying, and that man wants somebody to pray for him.
Well, this man's reading, Major Whittle's reading the Bible, so she thinks that he's a Christian. The nurse told Major Whittle that he was a wicked man and could not pray. Major Whittle confessed, too, he was a wicked man and had his own sins and couldn't pray for the man either.
Please just accompany me. Please just accompany me. Whittle said this is what happened that night by his own words. I dropped on my knees and held the boy's hand in mine. In a few broken words, I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me.
I believe right there that He did forgive me. I then prayed earnestly for the boy. He became quiet and pressed my hand as I prayed and pleaded God's promises. When I rose from my knees, he was dead. A look of peace had come over his troubled face, and I cannot but believe that God who used him to bring me to the Savior used me to lead him to trust Christ's precious blood and find pardon.
I hope to meet him in heaven. That's confidence. That's surety that he is going to go. He's assured. He's confident. He's trusting. He knows. Speaking of which, Major Whittle, you know him from this, because in his later years, he wrote the song, I Know Whom I Have Believed, and he wrote a couple hundred songs, but he wrote that in 1883.
I know not why God's wondrous grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love redeemed me for his own, but I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Stanza four, I know not what of good or ill may be reserved for me, of weary ways or golden days before his face I see. I know not when my Lord may come at night or noonday fair, nor if I walk the veil with him or meet him in the air.
I wonder if you could sing that song to a Christian, that you could know, that you have a surety and confidence that Jesus is yours and he is true and faithful, the resurrected Savior. Introductory question, number two, numero dos.
I tried to do the Duolingo Latin thing, but I ran out of hearts and I didn't want to pay the monthly fee. I don't think I've paid any, I don't pay any monthly fee on my phone, I don't think, besides obviously the phone, but all the stuff on there.
I've paid for a couple apps, one dark sky I paid for, and that's no longer going to be functioning beginning January 1st of next year, so I'm bugged about that. That's my favorite weather app. And the other app that I think I've paid for was a constellation app, because we'd sit out in the jacuzzi at night and I would hold it up and I wanted to know where the constellations were so I could properly read my horoscope.
Okay, it was all true until I said that last bit there. I just wanted to see what they're called, right? Orion's belt, you know, that's what I wanted to know. I think that's it. I don't think I've paid for anything else.
They're all free apps, Strava, free version, right? Trails, all trails, free. Trailforks, free. I have to do all the free stuff. So Duolingo, I never really seem to make it on there any longer. Question two, is there a difference between security and assurance?
Eternal security, perseverance of the saints, preservation by God, etc. This is a fact. This is whether you know it or not. It's an objective truth that there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
And when Jesus lays down his life for the sheep, he's not going to lose one. It's a fact. That is security. What God starts, he finishes. And if you believe you have security or don't, it's still true.
Security is a fact. And assurance is I'm sure or I'm confident. It's true. And I know that security's mine. As one person said, a confident realization of that security. Security says you're forgiven, you have eternal life, you're adopted.
God is sanctifying you and one day will glorify you because he justified you. All the benefits of Christ Jesus, union with Christ, are yours. And assurance is realizing that with confidence, with surety, with knowledge.
Joel Beeky says assurance of faith is a conviction that one belongs to Christ through faith and will enjoy everlasting salvation. So it's true that you get that insecurity, but it is, in fact, a confident realization of that.
Does that make sense? I've been accepted by God. I have been accepted by God in Christ. I have been accepted because I've been regenerated by the Spirit and adopted into his family. And therefore, the difference between security, which is objective and true of all Christians, assurance is a little more...it can come and go.
It's a little more volatile because every Christian has security. They just might not know it. Question number three, can believers have gospel assurance? Okay, it's one thing to say, this is what assurance is, and what's the difference between assurance and security?
Can I have it? Can you have it? Is it something that's beyond our reach? Is it only for Mary and maybe for Paul or somebody with direct revelation, maybe David, King David? 1 John 5, 13, these things I have written to 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.
You can know. Yes. So the answer is, can believers have assurance? Yes. John 20, I mean, the whole book is written for this, is it not? Verse 30 and 31, many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
But these have been written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name. God could have given us security, but we never would have known it.
We never had to experience assurance, but he did tell us we could have it, 1 John 2, 25. This is the promise which he himself made to us, eternal life. Can believers have gospel assurance? The answer is, yes.
Introductory question number four, is it rare to meet someone who has never struggled with assurance? In other words, don't people often struggle with assurance? Does everybody struggle with assurance?
Thomas Brooks, a Puritan, I've got a couple articles, a couple days, a guide in the gospel assurance book. He said something I think is important for every one of us. You might not have thought of this before, but I want you to think of it from here on out.
Our knowledge of God, of Christ, of ourselves, and of blessed scripture is imperfect in this life. Okay, let me repeat that. Our knowledge of God, of Christ, of ourselves, and the blessed scripture is imperfect in this life.
And how then can our assurance be perfect? I mean, what is perfect? Spurgeon sometimes doubted his salvation. Are you happy that's true, Schadenfreude? It's not weird. It's not abnormal. It's pretty normal.
Some struggle with it more than others. Maybe you don't struggle much. Maybe you struggle a lot. I think it's kind of weird if you never struggle because we're sinners. John Owen, the great English Puritan, struggled.
He said, I myself preached Christ some years when I had but very little, if any, experimental acquaintance with access to God through Christ. That's interesting. He said his life during that time was, quote, oppressed with horror and darkness, end quote.
And how did he get things flipped right side up? Very fascinating. Owen said, quote, God graciously relieved my spirit by a powerful application of Psalm 130. Psalm 130? Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Yahweh.
O Lord, Adonai, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. If you, O Yahweh, should mark iniquities, O Adonai, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, all caps. My soul waits, and in his word, I hope. My soul waits for the Lord, smaller caps, more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, Yahweh, for with the Lord, Yahweh, there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. And Owen went on to say in his old-fashioned English, faith's discovery of forgiveness in God is the greatest supportment of a sin-perplexed soul. Don't we all need a little supportment?
So it's not weird that you struggle with assurance. It's not odd. You're not the only one. Doesn't that make you feel better? Now we're going to talk about what contributes to lower assurance and what can contribute to helping us increase assurance, but I just want you to know, back to what Brooks says, our knowledge of God, of Christ ourselves, and of the blessed scripture is imperfect.
In this life, how can our assurance be perfect? Perfect. Very, very important words for those of you that struggle with assurance. My name's Mike Abendroth, Gospel Assurance, a 31-day guide to assurance that I've compiled is on Amazon, and you can go there to get it.
It's $14 .99, and you can email me for more 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.