The video of this post is from a series R C Sproul was doing on Assurance of Salvation; it is from the YouTube site, Ligonier Ministries, linked below.
This lecture is on False Assurance. He cited two common errors about assurance early in the video and carefully explained those to his audience.
The errors he cites are very common, especially to those professed Christians who do not have much Bible understanding. They might even have heard the ideas Sproul cites in conversations at church. It is up to each Christian to know what he/she believes and why.
Highlight points:
[All the videos in Sproul’s 6-part series are identified below, three free ones are linked.]
- Brief review of video 3: the four groups of people: 1. Those who are not saved and know it; 2. Those who are saved and know it; 3, Those who are saved and do not yet know it; and 4, Those who are NOT save yet have assurance that they are saved.
- Two groups are sure that they are in a state of salvation, but one of them is wrong
- One who has assurance must ask, “How can I be sure that my assurance is real and not like theirs?”
- As Jesus said: Matthew 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
- Jesus spoke those words to that group that had assurance of salvation but was fatally wrong
- Two things cause people to falsely believe they have real assurance of salvation:
- 1) They don’t really understand the requirements for salvation
- 2) They might have a correct theology of salvation but be mistaken about having met those requirements
- First major error leading to a false assurance of salvation:
- Universalism: it falsely teaches that all will go to heaven
- If one believes that, he / she is saying the following syllogism in their mind:
- All persons will be saved; I am a person; therefore, I will be saved
- Those who believe in Universalism, believe they are assured of salvation
- Another very common false doctrine of assurance of salvation follows closely behind Universalism, Justification by death [to be justified it to be righteous; if one is righteous before God, then he / she will be saved…]
- The Protestant Reformation was about the doctrine of Justification; at that time, the Reformers fought against the Roman Catholic Church’s unbiblical doctrine of justification
- Today, the most common false doctrine of justification that is in contention with biblical justification, is the doctrine of justification by death
- R C told a brief story to illustrate that that doctrine of justification by death is broadly held in the social realm (around 5 minutes in)
- What has actually facilitated such an unbiblical doctrine is that people have largely wiped from their minds the reality of a biblical judgment for sin
- People wrongly attribute such notions to the fire and brimstone revival preachers…
- Hebrews 9:26b… But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him
- The Bible reveals that Jesus spoke more words on hell and judgment than any other biblical figure [to discover that, merely read through the book of Matthew, or any of the other three writers; they wrote accounts of Jesus’ earthly ministries]
- The SECOND FALSE BASIS FOR ASSURANCE is legalism, or works righteousness
- The false belief that to get into heaven, one must obey the law of God, live a “good life”
- Such people think that they have met God’s standard of righteousness based on their personal evaluation of their character and performance; they have confidence in their assessment
- They don’t know what the apostle Paul said in Romans, especially chapter 3: [Romans 3:9-31 are pasted in below for those would like to review it]
- Romans 3:10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one.
- R C explained the errors of the Rich Young Ruler from scripture (11 minutes into the video)
- The short version: what Jesus said to the Young Ruler was to illustrate to him that he had wrongly assessed himself; he had not kept any of the commandments, despite having believed he had kept them all; and that his god was money – he went away in sorrow, but clung to his money
- [See Luke 18:18–30]
- The Bible standard is the righteousness of God
- God considers, 1) our behavioral conformity to the law of God, and 2) our internal motivation / desire to obey God’s law
- On the outside, we may think another is good because of their behavior, because they perform their civic duty, as John Calvin called it. Jonathan Edwards called that external performance of goodness, enlightened self-interest
- R C told a story about a man who rushed into a burning building after firemen had evacuated it, and realized a child was still inside. The crowd began to cheer and cheered louder when the man came out carrying a bundle, until they realized he had his life savings in that bundle
- However, had he died therein, the crowd would likely wrongly called him a hero for trying to save the child, when he had actually died trying to save his treasures
- But even if he’d gone in for the child and died, God would look at his motives, were his actions out of love of God [or something more selfish]
- Augustine: even our best virtues are but splendid vices (sin is attached to everything we do)
- The rich young ruler did not understand such things; he has a superficial understanding of “keeping God’s commands”
- R C noted that Jesus could have said, no, you’ve not kept a single command this day, even though the rich young ruler claimed to have kept them since his youth
- Jesus’ words, that the rich young ruler give away his riches and follow Jesus were spoken merely to illustrate to him what was his god, as Isaiah spoke below:
- Isaiah 64:6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. [NLT]
- [That is, Jesus was not indicating that salvation was through a vow of poverty or some such thing, see Romans below for the only way of salvation]
- Second false assurance: sacerdotalism
- That is the belief that salvation is accomplished through the sacraments, the priesthood and/or the church
- That is, “I was baptized, therefore I am saved”
- Like the Pharisees falsely believed that they would enter into heaven because they had been circumcised
- Circumcision was the sacrament of the Old Testament
- A false belief that follows closely behind that is those who believe they are saved because they have joined the church, become a member of a church
- Some other false ways of salvation (if one places his / her trust merely in these things) include, praying the sinner’s prayer; raising one’s hand; going forward during altar call; and making a decision for Jesus
- End of points
R C’s series, Assurance of salvation has 6 parts (at Ligonier), 4 are free on YouTube, they are linked below [I will likely not be posting them, as I still have much that I want to post from MLJTrust]:
Part 1: The duty of pursuing assurance: n/a
Part 2: Assurance enhances sanctification: n/a
Part 3: 4 kinds of people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di93tF6EOQg
Part 4: False Assurance (the video of this post)
Part 5: Gaining True Assurance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NxjBI5b8Uk
Part 6: The Source of Full Assurance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv55cgKHrHc
[The link to series at Ligonier Ministries accompanies each video linked above.]
ROMANS 3:9-31; APPLICABLE PORTIONS ARE UNDERSCORED:
Romans 3:9 Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. 10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one.
Rom 3:11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” 13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies.” “Snake venom drips from their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “They rush to commit murder. 16 Destruction and misery always follow them. 17 They don’t know where to find peace.” 18 “They have no fear of God at all.”
Rom 3:19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
Rom 3:20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
Rom 3:21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.
Rom 3:22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Rom 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Rom 3:24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Rom 3:25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,
Rom 3:26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
Rom 3:27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith.
Rom 3:28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
Rom 3:29 After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is.
Rom 3:30 There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.
Rom 3:31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. [End; NLT used for ease of reading]
Link to Bible Hub commentaries on Romans 3: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/romans/3-1.htm
Besides the commentaries opened on the page, there are a couple dozen more located just under the bold words, Romans 3:1. Calvin’s commentary is among them, he is an extremely competent Bible commentator, and not a hard read.