Can I Really Be Sure Of My Salvation?

By: Howard Vanderwell

Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:1-11

February 14th, 2010

When I hear those words, especially the words of v.11 in which Peter calls us to "be all the more eager to make our calling and election sure", I hear him calling us to be folks who are confident that God has chosen us. And then I think of a number of folks whom I’ve met during my pastoral ministry who have struggled with that confidence. One, in particular, stands out. She was a saint. There’s no other way to put it. She was a devoted and sincere Christian lady all her life. A more loyal and faithful follower of Christ you would never find. All her life she had served him, been faithful in her church, and everyone who knew her also knew how important her faith was to her. But now her years were nearing their end. She was in her 80’s; her body was weak and broken; her husband had passed away about twenty years before; and now since she could not care for herself alone she was living in a Nursing Home. I went to see her regularly during that time and observed that her strength was gradually getting more shallow. Often our visits were very pleasant. But one day those visits took a turn. She was no longer the gentle soul who was resting in God’s care; now she was a troubled soul who wondered whether she really was in God’s care. The closer she got to her end, the less sure she was about her faith. She just did not feel she could be so sure anymore about her standing with God. Her sinfulness loomed up before her and seemed to be a terrible obstacle to being certain of her salvation. "How can God love someone like me…?" was her painful rhetorical question. Now, let me say that to my knowledge there was no big unresolved failure and scandal that resided in her past. No huge skeleton in her closet, at least that I was aware of. She was just a very typical child of God who, when nearing the end of her journey, lost her sense of certainty. I tried my best to comfort her and reassure her, but I hurt so much for someone who seemed to be living her closing days in doubt. Now, I know there are some people who seem so incapable of any healthy doubt at all. They seem so presumptive, they jump to conclusions so easily, and are so quick to assume that they like everyone else are safe children of God, and do so without even a hint of asking some of the hard questions about our sin and our need for confession. I say some are so presumptive. But I hurt for those who live in doubt, Christian saints who, for one reason or another, lose their sense of certainty. Some experience such doubt during certain chapters in their life, some seem to live with it lifelong, and others close their days of life wondering if they are safe. And I think if we are really candid with each other, a lot of us will have to admit that we do find this bird of doubt flying by and landing on the branches of our hearts from time to time. So where do these doubts come from, do you think? What causes them? Why can we be so confident in our salvation one day and unsure the next? And why would it happen that a gentle Christian lady, who seems to have lived with assurance all her life, would lose it near the end of the journey? I think I can point to several things that may cause it, though we must admit none of us fully understand exactly why it happens. We must admit that in certain chapters of life, there is a normalcy and a health to our doubts. It’s a normal part of growing, or examining what we believe and how firmly we will believe it. We normally believe in something most deeply only after we’ve asked some hard and probing questions about it. So doubt is not necessarily all bad. It can be good, growth —producing. And so perhaps some of these times of doubting are the times in which our heart is saying, "Look, before we go ahead any further, before we reach the point of no return, let’s ask the hard questions, let’s really examine it all to see if it really is true, really is solid." It may be a fear of being careless. "Let’s really be sure", we say to ourselves. And perhaps some of these experiences happen at the close of life’s journey as an expression of our anxiety about the process of dying. We know it’s so terribly final, so before we face the last step we sense that we must understand and probe it all one more time. Maybe there can be something very normal about it all. Or maybe those doubts come because so many of us live in a day of such rampant skepticism. You know, we are told, "you just can’t be too sure of anything anymore." Everything that we thought was so sure yesterday is up for grabs today. Anything nailed down in a previous generation, is torn lose today. So don’t be so quick to make firm affirmations and bold professions. And so such skepticism gets hold of us too and chips away at our assurance. Or, more likely, some of those times of doubting are the result of unsettling and disappointing experiences in life that knock us off balance. We’ll talk more in the weeks ahead about those times when good people suffer, and our agony when God doesn’t seem to be answering us. We meet those times so often. Things don’t work out; crises come; things fall apart; just when everything seems to be going well, it all seems to lie in shambles at our feet. And then it’s easy to doubt…am I really OK with God? But sometimes it may be failures of the past that rise up and haunt us…personal failures that we have concealed from others, never really fully resolved within ourselves, and never really fully resolved with God. We think they are hidden and gone, but sooner or later they do come out of the closet, at least in our own mind and heart. And because we have not resolved them, and perhaps have not appropriated God’s forgiveness, or have not been able to forgive ourselves, they erode any sense of security we once had. So, maybe as you think about any of the doubts that you are having, try to reflect on what may be behind them, what may be causing them. Understanding that will go a long ways to knowing how to overcome them. I say that it’s important to face such doubts, and to look for help with them, because it is very clear that the Bible DOES hold out for us the right to have a clear certainty about our standing with God through Jesus Christ. I want to be clear about that. There are so many very beautiful professions of certainty in the Bible from which we can learn. We heard one of those in the words of Peter that were read a few minutes ago. Now remember these were written to Christians who were not having an easy time of it in a society that was not very friendly to their faith. And I hope you sense the firmness with which he begins, addressing them as "those who through righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours…." And then he pronounces a blessing on them, "grace and peace be yours in abundance…." And he continues, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness…" There is so much more in this passage. I encourage you to read through it again on your own. But I want you to notice especially what he says in the tenth verse. "…Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure." Now, that may sound like a strange statement, because our calling and election is God’s work, isn’t it? God chooses us, in his mercy and grace, before we were born, even before the foundation of the world. It’s his sovereign choice, and we can’t do anything to change that, can we? Now, that’s true enough. But that’s not what Peter intends to say here. He’s talking about our personal certainty of the fact that we know God has called and elected us. He’s referring to our personal experience of God’s work of electing us, choosing us, and calling us. He’s trying to get these early Christians past the habit of saying, "I hope so but I don’t really know" to saying, "Yes, I know and I am sure." And the concern of Peter’s heart is that Christians who are facing all the difficulties of life in this world need to be able to stand in a place of firm certainty about their relationship with God. What Peter says here is very consistent with what he wrote these people in the first letter he sent to them. Hear these precious words and note how filled they are with certainty and assurance. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." He has said three things are absolutely certain — the finished work of Christ evidenced through his resurrection, the inheritance that is being kept for us, and we also are shielded by God’s power until that day when we will receive our inheritance. That’s the same kind of certainty and assurance that Paul is speaking about very passionately in Romans 8 (A chapter I absolutely love!) Notice how certain he is as he writes to the Christians in Rome. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" "Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co—heirs of Christ…." And this is the climax of that chapter, "…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." You see, the Bible is a book filled with certainty and assurance for us. That’s why David can say in Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing" and another Psalmist can say, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble." There is a historic confession, shared by Christians, called the Heidelberg Catechism. It begins with just such a firm affirmation of certainty. It states:
My only comfort in life and death is That I am not my own, But belong — body and soul in life and death — To my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, And has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way, That not a hair can fall from my head Without the will of my Father in heaven; In fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
So I want you to sense that when you settle into these times of doubt, God doesn’t want you to remain there. He wants you to rise up to a position of greater certainty, and to look to his word for the assurance your spirit is eagerly desiring. But, I know, you may want to say to me, "that sounds easy, but how can I do that? How can I move from all these doubts to that firm certainty? How do I get there? What must I do?"I know it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a journey. Please think of it as a journey of three steps. First, you need to focus on the finished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God who came to earth for the express reason of paying the price for the sins of the world so that people like you and me can be forgiven. He spoke, taught, healed, and cared for people during his ministry here. But at the end of it, he suffered rejection and was crucified on the cross at Calvary as a payment for our sins. He paid the price completely. He suffered forsakenness by God on the cross there because he had become the guilty sinner in our place, though he had no sin of his own. And then he cried "It is finished"! He meant that it’s all done. His work was done. The price for sin had been paid, totally, finally. There is nothing more that needs to be paid. Nothing more need be added. You and I do not have to pay for our sins. He already did. That work of Christ is all finished and he calls us to trust him for that, confess our sinfulness and received his gift of being declared forgiven. That’s the first step — focus on this finished work of Christ for our sin. Secondly, take God at his word when he says you are forgiven. Yes, his word is true, absolutely true. And yes, his word says that when you confess you are forgiven, completely forgiven. So the question is: do you believe him or not? Do you think he is telling the truth or telling a lie? Faith is the act of believing his word, trusting him to be telling the truth, and then trusting that he has in fact forgiven us completely. Suppose, for instance, that you are one of the paralyzed men who has been brought to Jesus to be healed, and then Jesus says to you, "you are healed, take up your cot and go home" and you say, "I can’t, I’m paralyzed". And Jesus says again, "You are healed, take up your cot and go home". Again you say, "but I’m paralyzed". Finally Jesus says, "Believe me, trust me, you are healed, you can get up, now do it". Faith is receiving the forgiveness Christ is so eager to give. Oh, I know, so often our biggest problem is forgiving ourselves of our failures, but that’s a different subject. If Christ can forgive us, we need to forgive ourselves too. If by faith we are obedient to accept the forgiveness of Christ, then we are able to work also at forgiving ourselves. And then the third step I would point to is what we call the test for fruit. Look for evidence that indicates you are a new and different person, evidence that points to the presence of God and his work in your life. What can you see in your life that can be there only if God’s there and at work? In the passage that we read earlier from Peter’s letter, he encourages the first century Christians to develop qualities of Christian character — faith, goodness, knowledge, self—control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love, he calls them. His point is this…the more of Christlikeness you see in your life, the more you will recognize Christ there, and the more certain you will be that you do indeed belong to him, you are a child of him. I suggest that you test yourself with some key probing questions. Do my sins bother me, and am I sorry for them and have I confessed them to Christ? (No one does that without the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart.) Do I recognize Christ as the son of God and the Savior of the World? (Paul says that no one can say that except if they have the Holy Spirit in their heart.) Do I trust God’s promises are true? (Only his children are able to do that.) Do I see evidence of growth in my life, a love for others, fruit that shows I’m a different person than I used to be? (Those things come when Christ is at work within us.) And when you sense God at work within you (sure, you’re still not all you want to be, still have more growing to do, we all do) but when you sense that God is at work within you, then give thanks for the Spirit of God is speaking to your spirit reassuring you that you are a child of the Lord. You can stand certain of that! And then, when you have some certainty like that to talk about, do so. Tell some others close to you. Affirm your faith while you worship in church. If you are part of a Bible believing church and they have the Lord’s Supper, then go to the Lord’s Table there and affirm that you are God’s child. When you go through the valleys of life, affirm that God is with you. And even when you come to the end of your days, affirm over and over in your heart that you are safe and the Lord is your Shepherd.
Prayer

Gracious Father, we sense deeply within us the need and desire to know where we stand with you. Our assurance in life and our hope in death are based on knowing we belong to you as your child. Some of us know that firmly and we give you thanks with all our heart for the work of your Son Jesus Christ for our salvation. Some of us go through these times of cloudy doubt that haunt us and we ask for your Holy Spirit to help us hold firmly to your promises of our newness in Jesus Christ. But some of us have never come to you for salvation, and so we ask for your Spirit to draw us to yourself now, that Jesus Christ alone can provide. Hold us close, Lord Jesus, and walk with us through all the ups and downs of our lives, until that day when you take us home. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

About the Author

Howard Vanderwell

Howard Vanderwell was ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in 1962. He received his M.Div. and Th.M. degree from Calvin Theological Seminary and his D.Min. at Westminster Theological Seminary in California. He has served as pastor to four congregations over 40 years in Iowa, Illinois and Michigan. After leaving the pastorate in 2002 he began a new ministry at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. He is currently a staff member at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI and Adjunct Professor of Worship at Calvin Theological Seminary. He consults with local congregations, provides worship materials, leads conferences and workshops, and teaches courses on worship at Calvin Seminary. Howard’‘s interests include planning, leading and evaluating worship, preaching, and worship renewal throughout the evangelical church. “My life-long prayer, from my days as a child, was that I might be honored to serve as a Christian Reformed pastor preaching the Word of God to encourage and challenge his people. I consider the forty years of my pastoral ministry to have been the most valuable way in which I could have invested those years! When I consult with pastors, teach and mentor students, hold conferences for worship leaders, or write worship planning materials, my aim is to equip and inspire others to serve their Lord and Savior by making a whole-hearted investment in his church and his people. Such ministry is certainly not without its stresses and discouragements, and those of us who have found such joy in a life-time of ministry are uniquely fitted to encourage others.” Howard lives in Hudsonville, MI with his wife Eleanor. They have three married sons and ten grandchildren ages 5 through 19. His hobbies are yard-gardening, walking, photography and model railroading.

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