LBCF Chap 18-19

Assurance of Salvation and the Difference Between True Faith and False Hope

Okay, all right, this morning we're picking up the confession in chapter 18 of the assurance of grace and salvation, okay? And this is an important chapter in the confession because the assurance of salvation is something that a lot of people struggle with, all right?

And so to understand biblically why do people struggle with assurance of salvation, can you have assurance of salvation, is an important issue. And especially because there are certain branches of evangelical Christianity that don't believe that you can ever have assurance.

And the reason for that, for example, take the Pentecostal churches, they believe you can lose your salvation. So if you can lose your salvation, how can you really be assured of it? I mean, you may be sure that you're saved now, but you can't be assured that next week you're going to be saved, all right?

So this is another of the paragraphs that make it distinctively a Reformed and Reformed Baptist confession. So let's look at it. Although temporary believers and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and state of salvation, which hope of their shall perish, yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love Him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.

Okay.

A couple of things that we really need to clarify right in the beginning. Notice what it says, temporary believers. That's, the confession is not saying that you can be saved and lose it. When our confession talks about temporary believers, it's talking about those who have made a profession of faith and those who have fallen away.

If you remember in our sermon from only last week or a couple of weeks ago, we talked about, you know, the parable of the sower. So we know that there are people that appear to be true believers, but whether it's the cares of the world or persecution comes or the enticement of the world, they fall by the wayside and prove themselves not to be true believers, right?

And notice it says another unregenerate men. There are men who make no profession of faith and yet still believe that they're going to.

Heaven.

If you, you've seen some of the interviews with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron and, you know, they're interviewing people, you know, are you going to heaven?

Yes.

Why are you going to heaven? Well, because I've done more good than bad, you know? And so you have people who deceive themselves with false, false hopes, carnal presumptions, and they believe that they're going to heaven when in fact they're not.

And we know that this will be the case because at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, remember what Jesus said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not do this, that, et cetera, the other thing in your name?

And what is the Lord's response? Depart from me, I never knew you, all right? So we know that there are going to be people who believe that they're saved and in fact are not. But then the confession goes on and says, yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace.

And in fact, not only does it say, yet they may, all right, they may in this life be certainly assured, it is our goal that we are certainly assured. We're told to make our calling and election sure, all right?

And so how do you know that you, how can you be assured of your salvation? Let's put it that way. And notice what it says. You truly believe, you love the Lord in sincerity, and you walk in good conscience before him.

That's kind of like a threefold test, you know? And that's why nobody else can judge your salvation because these are things that only you can really know, you know? Do you truly believe, all right? You can, there are people who can articulate the faith very well, but yet in their heart do not necessarily truly believe, okay?

Are you, you know, are you endeavoring, do you love him in sincerity, all right? And again, only you know if you love him in sincerity because a lot of people can put on a happy face, you know? It's easy to say, I love you, it's another thing to prove it.

And then of course the last one, which is what brings us into the epistle of James, is endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him. That's the test. Are you striving for holiness, okay? Okay, any questions on this opening paragraph which sums up our doctrine of assurance, okay?

Assurance Founded on Christ’s Blood, the Spirit’s Witness, and the Means of Grace

All right, let's go to paragraph two of the scripture, all right? This certainty is not a bare conjectural improbable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel and also upon the inward evidence of those graces of the spirit unto which promises are made and on the testimony of the spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are children of God and as a fruit thereof being, keeping the heart both humble and holy.

All right, now notice, it's not mere conjecture. In other words, this assurance of faith is not something that we can say, well, you know, I hope so, all right? But it's a probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, all right?

Not founded on a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ. In other words, what is it that we are putting our hope in that we are truly and assuredly saved is not in our hope, okay?

Because our hope is fallible, all right? We can hope for a lot of things, all right? But it's based upon the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel. One of the things that a lot of Christians use, especially pastors and counseling when you're trying to determine if somebody is truly saved.

She asked me a question, if you were to die today and you're standing before Christ, and he says, you know, why should I let you into my heaven, all right? What is your answer? And it's amazing how many people have inane answers, you know, or even some of the answers that we see that, you know, well, you know, because I'm a good person, you know, I'm not perfect, but I'm good, you know, and I've done this, I tithed, you know, all kinds of answers people come up with, you know, but what is the answer?

Because Christ died for my sin, you know, and I've sincerely repented. So it's founded upon the blood and righteousness of Christ, his blood taking away our sin and his righteousness being imputed to us, okay?

And then you have the inward evidence of the grace of God in you, all right? You have the testimony of the spirit of adoption. Remember, Paul talks about that in Romans 8, you know, that the spirit of God witnesses with our spirit, you know, so you have these inward graces besides the outward fruit, you know, making you holy, humble.

If somebody comes in and they say, oh, I'm proud that I'm a Christian, you know, you got to look at them and then wonder, how can you be proud? What did you do? You know, and this again is one of the dangers of works-based salvation.

If I'm earning something, I've got reason to be proud. Paul makes that clear. He says, you know, but what has he decided to do? If I have anything to boast about, I boast to the Lord. All of his good works he considered as rubbish, okay?

Assurance, the Means of Grace, and the Fruit of Obedience

All right, chapter three, I mean, paragraph three of chapter 18, all right, it says, this infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be a partaker of it.

Yet being enabled by the spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may without extraordinary revelation and the right use of means attain thereunto. Therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, and that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy spirit, in love and thankfulness to God and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance.

So far is it from inclining men to looseness. Okay, all right, notice what it says. An infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he becomes a partaker of it.

What that's saying is if when you first come to Christ, you may not be assured of your salvation. It's common for a new believer to have doubts. All right, and there's a lot of reasons for that. One, because once we're saved, we still continue to sin.

And it's easy to say, well, how can I be a Christian if I'm looking, look at, I'm still doing some of the same things that I did. So it's not unusual, you know, for a new believer to waver in their assurance.

All right, but that being said, look at what the confession says. A lot of people are looking for some sort of extraordinary occurrence, a second blessing, speaking in tongues, all right, as evidence, okay.

What the confession is saying, none of that is going to give you the proper assurance of faith. All right, what is going to give you the right use of the means of grace? What are the means of grace? Sitting under the preaching of the word, partaking of the ordinances of the church, reading your scriptures, praying, those are the things that will bring you to an assurance.

And if you're looking for some dream or vision or some other extraordinary means, you're really looking in the wrong place. All right, because these extraordinary means, well, they mean nothing. Look at what Jesus said.

Many will say, but Lord, did I not prophesy in your name? And you can add anything that you want in there. What is it that people are looking for as assurance of faith? Add anything in there other than the diligent use of the means of grace and you're on a shaky ground.

And here's where they specifically say, we have to give all diligence to make your calling and election sure, all right. As you're making diligent use of the means of grace, making sure of your calling and election, all right, that's when you start to see the fruit of it, all right.

Your heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness to the duties of obedience. One of my favorite Bible verses in 1 John is that we're told, if we love him, to keep his commandments, all right.

And that is something that a vast majority of the church doesn't teach. They teach, oh no, you don't have to do anything, you know, just love God. Well, the demonstration of love is you keep commandments.

But I love the last phrase of that verse is crucial, it says, and his commandments are not burdensome. If you find trying to live a holy life is a burden, that's cause for concern. What I'm not saying is that it's easy.

There's a difference. It's hard, but there's a difference for something being hard and being a burden. I mean, we're called to do a lot of hard things in this life, and they're not necessarily burdens, you know.

Taking care of a loved one, you know, when my parents started getting old, and my dad could get a little cantankerous, you know, and I had to take care of him along with my siblings. It was difficult, but it wasn't a burden because he's my dad, you know.

And that's something that we need to look at, you know, with our keeping the commandments of God, is obeying God a burden? If it's a burden, then you got to take a good, hard, close look at yourself. Is it hard?

Yeah, it's going to be hard. He promised us it's going to be hard. Okay, does that make sense?

Okay, so let's, oops.

You know what?

I missed a, I missed a section. I, somehow I missed a section here. So there's section four, paragraph four. I'll just read it to you because it's not in the, I'm going to pause. Okay, hold on one second.

And on here that I don't know about.

Okay, here we go.

We'll just look at chapter 18 questions. But here, true believers may have the assurance of their salvation. In diverse ways, shaken, diminished and intermitted as by negligence in preserving of it. Falling into some special sin, which wounds the conscience, grieves the spirit by some sudden or vehement temptation.

By God's withdrawing the light of his countenance and suffering, even such as fear for him to walk in darkness and to have no light. Yet they are never destitute of the seed of God and the life of faith.

That love of Christ and the brethren. That sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which by the operation of the spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived. And by the witch in the meantime, they are preserved from utter despair.

Okay, what that's basically saying is you may come across a time in your life where you fall into sin, even a gross sin. And you're separated from the countenance of God. The light of his countenance is the way the confession puts it.

That doesn't mean that you have lost your salvation.

All right.

And you can even notice what it says. It can even suffering, even such as a fear to him to walk in darkness. You may even fear that you've lost your salvation or that you were never saved. Yet if you are a true believer, you're never destitute of the seed of God and the life of faith.

The love of Christ and the sincerity of heart. And of course, that will preserve you from utter despair.

All right.

So you can, in fact, go through a really dark period in your life and still be a true believer. Your faith, your assurance of faith may even be shaken.

All right.

However, that doesn't mean that you've lost your salvation. Only the assurance. Remember, there's a difference between being saved and being assured that you're saved. You can truly be saved and not be assured.

You don't want it to be the other way. You don't want to be assured and not really be saved. That's the key. Final thoughts on assurance. And my apologies for missing that last section. I don't know how I did that record.

The Moral Law Written on Adam’s Heart and Given at Sinai

Okay, let's continue. Chapter 19, the law of the law of God. Chapter 19, paragraph 1. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience.

Promised life upon the fulfilling and threatened death upon the breach of it and endued him with power and ability to keep it.

All right.

Now, obviously, this is referring to the law that was given to Adam back at the beginning of creation. And notice what the confession teaches based upon the word of God, that the universal law of God, the essence of God's law was written on Adam's heart.

There's a lot of people who believe that the moral law was not given until Mount Sinai.

All right.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Adam and Eve had the law stamped on their heart.

All right.

And it was stamped perfectly.

All right.

Then he gave them some specific instructions to not eating of the fruit.

All right.

And he was bound as our federal head. He was bound to obey that perpetually and with a promise for keeping the law and death upon breaking the law.

All right.

Notice he also had the ability to keep it. Now, that's the setup.

All right.

Does everybody follow that? Adam had the perfect law.

All right.

Plus the particular law. It was written in his heart. He was bound to it. There was a promise of life for keeping it, death for breaching of it. And he also had the ability to keep it. Everybody follow that?

Okay.

Because that's setting up what's next there. In paragraph two, we read this. The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in 10 commandments and written in two tables.

The first four containing our duty towards God and the other six, our duty to man.

Okay.

Now, notice the essence of the law that was given to Adam is the same law that was given on Mount Sinai.

Okay.

And it continues. Now, notice it continues to be the perfect rule of righteousness after the fall. There are some people who say, well, no, the law is abrogated, but then we'll get to that as well. And you'll see that our confession teaches that what the scripture teaches is that that's not the fact.

All right.

Any questions on paragraph two? This is again, this is basically simple.

Ceremonial Law, Judicial Law, and the Tripartite Nature of the Law

All right.

In paragraph three, this is what we read. Besides this law, commonly called moral. God was pleased to give the people of Israel ceremonial laws containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces of actions, sufferings, and benefits, and partly holding forth diverse instructions of moral duties.

All which ceremonial laws being appointed only to the time of reformation are by Jesus Christ, the true Messiah, the only law giver, who was furnished with the power from father for that end, abrogated and taken away.

Okay.

What that's saying is there's another section outside of the moral law, 10 commandments is the moral law. There were ceremonial laws.

All right.

They were given partly for worship, prefiguring Christ, and there's also instructions and moral duties in them. However, with the coming of Christ, those laws were, I'm not crazy about the word abrogated.

They were fulfilled and therefore no longer binding on us. So you follow that? So far, we have two sections of the law. The moral, which is a continuing rule.

All right.

For all perpetuity, because it's the essence of who God is. Then you have the ceremonial law, which all prefigured Christ and were done away with when Christ came and fulfilled the law. Everybody follow that?

Okay.

And then paragraph four, to them, he also, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue of that institution, their general equity only being of moral use.

This is where you get into some of the tricky parts. Notice. We hold to what's called the tripartite nature of the law. In other words, there's three parts to it. The moral law, fully binding for all time, all ages.

Okay.

The ceremonial law, which was fulfilled in Christ and therefore not binding on us. Then you have the judicial law. That's all those laws in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus, you know, having to do with building parapets and what happens if your ox gores somebody.

Those laws were for the nation of Israel specifically. However, their general equity, in other words, the principles they teach are still binding on us.

All right.

Does that make sense? In other words, what's behind? Well, take, for example, let me see if I can explain this a little bit more. There's laws in the scripture about having a parapet around the top of your house.

Parapet is like a little knee wall.

All right.

And you, they were required to have that on the top of the house. Why did they have required? Because people at that time, the houses were built slightly into the mountain or the side of the hill and people would use, they'd come out and they'd sit and they would use the top of the house.

Some of, sometimes even they had grass on it.

All right.

And they would, and they were told to build these little walls. So nobody'd fall off. It was that simple.

Okay.

We have laws today that to prevent accidents. And so it's the general equity of that law. We don't have to enact a law that says we have to have a fence around our roofs.

All right.

But we do have to have rules that, and whatnot, to protect other people on our property.

Okay.

Same thing with, you know, if your ox gores somebody and, you know, you had to pay restitution. But if your ox got out of its cage and its fence and gored somebody else, you might be held, you would be held liable and you, you know, for greater penalties.

We have varying degrees of homicide. We have murder, murder one, murder two, manslaughter, manslaughter one, manslaughter two. A criminally negligent homicide. Then you have justifiable. And it's all based upon the general equity of the law that not every taking of a life is murder.

If it's an accident or if it's just reckless behavior, that would be manslaughter.

All right.

And there's different penalties. So we actually use these, this principle. That's what it talks about when it says the, the judicial laws, their general equity is being used for morality. And by the way, every law is a moral law.

When, if you ever hear somebody say, well, you know, you can't legislate morality. Every law has, is a morality. It's just a question of whose morality you're going to use. Does that make sense on how to use the, that portion of the law of God?

Okay.

The Moral Law’s Continuing Authority and Its Use in Sanctification

All right.

So we come now to paragraph five.

All right.

The moral law does forever bind all as well justified persons as others to the obedience thereof, and that not only in the regard of the manner contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God, the creator who gave it.

Neither does Christ in the gospel anyway dissolve much, but much strengthened this obligation.

Okay.

What that means is God is the one. His law is binding on all men, all times. The 10 commandments is not just for Christians. It's for all men.

Okay.

And regardless of whether they acknowledge the authority of God or not. And in fact, here's an important point. When somebody dies and Christ condemns them to hell, they're not being condemned to hell because they rejected him.

They're condemned to hell because they broke his law. And it's the wages of sin is that that's why they're going to hell. The fact that they rejected him just compounds it.

All right.

It's like a, an additional charge that's added to it.

All right.

But they're being sent to hell because they broke the law. That means the law is binding upon us today.

Okay.

Paragraph six. It's a long one. Although true believers are not under the law as a covenant of works to be thereby justified or condemned, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others in the rule of life.

All right.

I'm not going to read this whole paragraph because we're running a little bit short of time here.

All right.

Let me just, what we need to understand is that the covenant of works is what was in Adam, in Adam and Eve. They were required. If they could have obeyed the law, they would have inherited eternal life.

The, we are not under the covenant of works. We are under the covenant of grace.

Okay.

In, in, in this, in this age. And however, the moral law is still active for us.

Why?

Let me ask that question.

Why?

If, if we, if we know we can't keep it and we'd be guilty under it, but we're saved under the covenant of grace. That's how we're saved now. We're not saved by keeping the works of the law. Why is the law still binding upon us?

And now I'm talking about specifically the moral law.

Because we should try to keep law.

Okay.

Why?

You're right on to it.

Why?

Because we should try to be like Jesus.

Yeah.

That's the standard to which we attain.

Okay.

The moral law is the standard of behavior that all Christians should attain to. And that's the purpose of it now is that it's, it's the, the goal that we are, are told to seek. We're told to be holy as Christ is holy.

You know, we're told that we are to be conformed to his image. And that's the standard, you know, if I just say become like Christ, you'd say how? Well, the answer to how is by keeping the law, not for salvation, but in obedience to become for our sanctification.

Okay.

Good job.

All right.

Now, the last paragraph of this chapter, neither are the aforementioned uses of the law, contrary to the grace of the gospel, but to sweetly comply with it. The spirit of Christ of doing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully, which the will of God revealed in the law requires to be done.

In other words, there are people today who say, oh no, if you have, if you try to keep the law, you're trying to earn your salvation. And we're not, we're not bound by the law. And what the confession is saying, no, that's not true.

All these uses of the law are in agreement with salvation by grace and faith alone.

All right.

And they, and notice what it says, they do sweetly comply with it. The spirit of Christ in subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully. We should be cheerfully trying to keep the law of God because that's what our savior would have us to do.

And that's how we're going to become like him. Final thoughts or questions on either the assurance of salvation or the law of God. No questions.

We're good.

All right.

We'll end it here.