Assurance

This topic has been on my mind a significant amount lately. Yesterday I read through a website article that seeks to give those who have "invited Jesus into their lives" the assurance that they really are saved. Other articles on the website seem so much more solid that it really confuses me how they could drop the ball on a subject like this. I also watched a sermon from a church that, from my miniscule amount of knowledge, had seemed solid. The preacher did a 10 minute altar call at the end of his sermon, and then they baptized the new "converts" right there on the spot! Want to guess what the test was for regeneration? "Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior?" A "yes" gets you dunked and what fool would slip and say "no" at that point? I was dumbfounded that this church could call itself Baptist.

In answering someone's question of whether or not they should have assurance of their salvation, I don't think it is wise to come back with trite answers like "well if you weren't saved you wouldn't be worrying about it, so yes!" In fact, I don't know that it is wise to say yes ever, because that isn't our job. Only the Holy Spirit can grant assurance through the promises found in Scripture. The website was always completely affirming and sought to dispel all doubts about whether a person is saved or not without applying any Biblical tests. I came across one such test today in my reading through John: "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples" (John 15:8). How do we prove to be a disciple of Christ? By bearing much fruit.

Instead of telling someone, "Look at all these promises. If you asked Jesus to save you, then of course you are saved," we need to be saying, "Here's how you become a Christian, and here are the things the Bible says should be true of you once you have become a Christian. Examine yourself. I can't do it for you!" More than likely, the loss of assurance stems from the fact that they either lack a desire for God or they are entertaining some sin in their life. Let's encourage people to bear fruits in keeping with repentance! We cannot just assume people are in the faith because they call Jesus "Lord." We already know what Jesus' response to many of those people will be (Matt. 7:21-23).