Security and Assurance!
-- Tara Tourangeau

    Assurance is different from Eternal Security in that it is subjective whereas Eternal Security is objective.  It is possible for a Christian to lack assurance but not eternal security.  It was said by John Calvin that assurance is of the essence of saving faith.  It would not be true to say that if a person has no assurance, then he has no saving faith, but it would be true to say that if a person has never had assurance, then that person has clearly never believed in the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, having received His righteousness by grace through faith.

    The main reason for a lack of assurance among Christians today is the false teaching of many whereby they seek to add to the simplicity of the grace, which is in Christ Jesus, received by faith alone.  A famous quote from these so-called teachers of the gospel is this:  “We are saved by faith alone but not by faith that is alone.”  A careful consideration of this statement will make clear that grace is given with one hand and taken back with the other.  It is offered in its purity and then immediately adulterated.

    To them, good works are the automatic outflow of grace received, according to their rendering of James 2:24 which says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”  Could it be possible that there are two kinds of justification – a justification by works and a justification by faith only?  This verse could read, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not [justified] by faith only.”  And this is indeed the correct interpretation, according to the Apostle Paul, for he wrote, “If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’” (Rom. 4:2).

    What we find in the Scriptures is that there is indeed a place for works in the believer’s life, but if good works were automatically produced by the Christian, the thousands of exhortations to “walk worthy of the calling” with which we’ve been called would be an absurdity.  When our walk and responsibility is made to be somehow a part of our salvation, the issue of justification before God is clouded.  Speaking only of our justification, hear again the Apostle Paul, “If by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work” (Rom. 11:6).

    The real problem is carnality in the believer’s life.  This is what those errant teachers seek to correct (or do they?) by this subtle misrepresentation of the gospel.  But what it does, in reality, is turn the believer away from Christ and to his own good works for assurance of salvation.  If good works can’t save us, and we know they can’t, then they definitely can’t keep us or prove our salvation.  Jesus is our proof!  If you have believed in Christ, rest assured, you will be fruitful!  The proper focus of the Christian is certainly not the other way around – if you are fruitful, rest assured, you have believed in Christ.

    Steve Brown makes a true observation about Christians today.  He writes,  “The fact is, so many Christians are horribly burdened with guilt and fear, thinking that God is angry because they haven’t done all they could do for Him.  I believe that horrible fear of God and of failing Him is the major cause of people being disobedient to Him.  Paul said, ‘…do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads man to repentance?’ (Rom. 2:4).  That is the secret of faithfulness.”

    Truly, if salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone, and it is, then assurance of that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone as well.  It is only when conditions other than faith are added to the free gift of salvation that these conditions are added to the grounds of assurance as well.  You simply cannot have conditions for assurance that don’t exist for justification.  There is no work to be performed, no penance to be paid and no “special kind” of faith to be exercised.  What there is is a Man to be believed – a Man who, 2000 years ago, bore our sins in His own body, took our place and wore our shame.  It is through simple trust in Jesus, and Jesus alone, that not only our salvation, but also our blessed assurance, is found.

"If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen,
Who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation or distress,
Or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written:  ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted
As sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" 

(Rom 8:31-39)