# True and False Assurance



## YoungLearner (Sep 30, 2014)

This question has been giving me trouble, so I would like some help. Perhaps I should already know these things but I am very young spiritually and am without any other persons who share my beliefs.

I know many people who go to church and claim to be Christians. They talk about God and Christ a lot, and can tell you how easy it is to accept Christ as your personal Saviour and all that. They have full assurance that they are going to Heaven. Yet...they make light of sin. It is nothing to them to take the name of God in vain, and to commit other sins.

What bothers me so much is this: if they are totally convinced that they are Christians, what if I too am mistaken? What if I am in no better standing before God than they are, and have deceived myself like Simon Magus did in Acts?


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## YoungLearner (Oct 1, 2014)

Anyone?


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## Sensus Divinitas (Oct 1, 2014)

> Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XVIII - Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation
> 
> I. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation (which hope of theirs shall perish): yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring 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.
> 
> ...



Not to simply quote the WCF as some mere appeal to authority, but it is difficult to improve upon the language here (since you are a Reformed Baptist, you could substitute the 1689 LBCF chapter on assurance--it does not vary significantly from the substance of the WCF language). The point being, there are indeed people who vainly deceive themselves and possess a false assurance. However, true assurance is the rightful possession of all believers and can be known definitively.


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## Contra_Mundum (Oct 1, 2014)

Assurance belongs to _believers,_ not to those who "know" just how much or how excellent is their faith. Because the thing that saves is the Object of faith, and His hold on us, rather than our hold on him. Faith the size of a grain of mustard seed is more than enough to save the weakest sinner; let it only be in Christ.

If you wonder "shall I _endure to the end,_ and so be saved?" may I humbly encourage you to "*persevere*?" Saints (true saints) persevere; it is a product of divine grace. We are promised grace for today, not grace for tomorrow ("do not worry about tomorrow..."). Repent today, believe today, now. And be assured.

Fear about the "quality" of my faith, or the "excellence" of my behaviors, or if later I could find out I was "too insincere"--these are all manifest examples of self-focus. "Looking unto *Jesus*, the Author and Finisher of our faith..." The more you look at your Savior, the more you should be drawn to him, and into the strength of his embrace.

Why am I confident in my salvation? Not because of yesterday's conversion, or tomorrow's finish; but because today I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because I look to him, his Word assures me of his love for me from before all time, unto all eternity, and sustenance in the present moment.

Sister, be at peace, not in yourself, but in Christ.


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## C. M. Sheffield (Oct 2, 2014)

There are many who are assured of their interest in Christ, and shouldn't be; and many who are not assured of their interest in Christ, and should be. God's Word and Holy Spirit are all we need to examine ourselves as to a work of grace within our hearts.


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