Can I look at my love for Jesus to find assurance? | askTheocast.org

Hi, this is Jon, and today on Ask the Ocask, I'm answering Aaron's question. He asked, if someone is struggling with their assurance, can I point to their affection for Jesus, their love for Jesus, as the ground of their assurance, of how they can find assurance?

Why Assurance Cannot Rest on Our Affections

Well, the problem with this is that that is to assume that our affections are perfectly sanctified. They're perfectly holy, they're good and just at all times, and that we aren't going to waver. We are told that the problem of humanity, the problem with Christians is that it is our heart.

Our heart has been brought to life. We were told by Ezekiel that a heart of stone has been pulled out and heart of flesh is put in, that we are these new creatures that's really never existed before, which is those who have the Holy Spirit, but yet we are still depraved and we know that we're depraved, meaning that we are still underneath the effects of sin because we are warned by the Apostle Paul that the flesh is going to battle against the Spirit to overcome the Spirit.

And the Spirit's going to be at war with the flesh to suppress sin down. And 1 John 1 .9 becomes so important to the Christian life because it says, when we sin, we are to confess that sin and we receive forgiveness and He is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And repentance is a part of the Christian life where we are constantly repenting of when the flesh wins against the Spirit, and we're not even told that that battle somehow suppresses or goes away, but there's this constant battle and there's a warning from James even to be aware of Satan who was coming to try and trip us up, to trip our faith up, to get us to trust in the flesh or in the sin or in temptation rather than in Christ.

So Paul tells us about this war that he has in John, I'm sorry, in Romans seven, where the things he wants to do, he's not doing them and he knows the things that he shouldn't do. And he keeps doing them, O wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death?

And he says, thanks be to Christ. And so his hope as he goes on in Romans eight to tell us is that it eventually those whom God justifies, He sanctifies and those who sanctifies, He glorifies. Meaning that the glorious chain of redemption is that one day we will have perfect affection and perfect obedience of the Father, but right now we don't have that.

Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification

And where does our hope lie? Well, all throughout scripture, we are told that sinners are cleansed of their sin and they are given a new status, which is child who holds onto, who wears all of the riches of Jesus.

We are clothed as if we are wearing His clothes, we are wearing His wealth. We are clothed in His righteousness. And how is it that that is given to us? How is it that we are cleansed and then clothed?

We are granted all of the obedience of Jesus. How was that given to us? Is it given to us by our love for God? No, it's told that it's given to us by our faith and that faith is never quantified or qualified.

It literally says, if you believe in Jesus Christ to be your forgiveness and your righteousness, you are adopted child. You are brought in and have all the blessings of Christ, as we're told in Galatians three, that all of the, Ephesians three, all of the glorious gifts that are given to us are given to us by faith alone.

Ephesians two, eight, and nine says so that you don't boast. It's not of any kind of work. It's nothing you drum up. It's not your affections. It's not your obedience. It's trust. As you sit and trust in the finished work of Christ, as you sit there and trust that it's enough, that there's nothing else required, you can have full assurance.

Good Works, Confession, and the Danger of Self-Examination Misused

Now we are told in scripture that, and the confessions help clarify this, that our good works and our affections can add to our assurance. It can bolster it, but it can never be the foundation. It can't be the ground upon which you stand because the moment you put your faith and trust in your good works or in your affections and sin and temptation comes, it will topple you over and you will feel that you have no hope because all of a sudden you have denied God or as Peter found himself denying Christ.

And later on, even in his ministry, being rebuked by Paul for leading people back under the law or King David, as he gets toppled over by sin and temptation. And what does he say to, what does he say in his Psalm 51?

Lord, restore to me the joy of my salvation. He is looking to that which saves him, which is always a God outside of himself. So we too can take these hopes from Paul and Peter and the apostle or in King David and understand that as we wrestle in battle with sin, that our adoption, that our regeneration and our hope, our foundation is always in sola fide.

It's always faith alone. That there are times where we may be called to examine yourself. We use those, we hear those passages thrown at us. We'll examine yourself to see if you're of the faith and they'll point to your affections or they'll point to your obedience.

In context, Paul's not talking about their affections or obedience. He's calling their actual faith into question. He's saying, if you're accusing me of a false gospel, you better examine yourself to see if you're of the faith because I'm the one that preached the gospel to you, so you better make sure that you're in the faith because this is where you got your gospel.

So context there matters. But when it comes down to your assurance, I would encourage you that if you are going to base your assurance on your affections and love for God, your assurance is always going to waver and it's on shaky ground.

You are looking to the one who is saving you. You never look to yourself to see how well you are doing in obedience to the one who is saving you. Assurance must rest in the power and the one who's saving you, never in your own power.

Hopefully that was encouraging. Please go to our website and send us your questions. Thank you for taking the time to do that today, Aaron, and we'll see you guys next week.