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 salvationa (which hope of theirs shall perish):b
yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavoring
to
walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they
are in the state of grace,c and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God,
which hope shall never make them ashamed.d
a. Job 8:13-14; Micah 3:11; Deut. 29:19; John 8:41.
b. Matt. 7:22-23.
c. I John 2:3; 3:14, 18, 19, 21, 24; 5:13.
d. Rom. 5:2, 5.
II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and
probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope;a but an infallible assurance
of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation,b the
inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,c the
testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children
of God,d which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed
to the day of redemption.e
a. Heb. 6:11, 19.
b. Heb. 6:17-18.
c. II Pet. 1:4-5, 10-11; I John 2:3; 3:14; II Cor. 1:12.
d. Rom. 8:15-16.
e. Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; II Cor. 1:21-22.
III. This infallible assurance does not so belong to the
essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many
difficulties, before he be partaker of it:a yet, being enabled by the Spirit to
know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary
revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto.b And
therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make his calling and
election sure,c that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the
duties of obedience,d the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from
inclining men to looseness.e
a. I John 5:13; Isa. 1:10; Mark 9:24; Ps. 88; 77:1-12.
b. I Cor. 2:12; I John 4:13; Heb. 6:11-12; Eph. 3:17-19.
c. II Pet. 1:10.
d. Rom. 5:1-2, 5; 14:17; 15:13; Eph. 1:3-4; Ps. 4:6-7; Ps. 119:32.
e. I John 2:1-2; Rom. 6:1-2; Tit. 2:11-12, 14; II Cor.
7:1; Rom. 8:1, 12; I John 3:2-3; Ps. 130:4; I John 1:6-7.
IV. True believers may have the assurance of their
salvation diversee ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in
preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves
the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of His
countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light:a
yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of
Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by
the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived;b and
by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.c
a. Song 5:2-3, 6; Ps. 51:8, 12, 14; Eph. 4:30-31; Ps.
77:1-10; Matt. 26:69-72; Ps. 31:22; Ps. 88; Is. 1:10.
b. I John 3:9; Luke 22:32; Job 13:15; Ps. 73:15; 51:8,
12; Is. 1:10.
c. Micah 7:7-9; Jer. 32:40; Is. 54:7-10; Ps. 22:1; Ps.
88.
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