Full Assurance of Faith

© 1998 Jim Miles

Scripture: Eph. 3:14-21 ; Opening Hymn: 469, "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms"

Read Hebrews 10:19-23; verse 22, "full assurance of faith."

"What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. . . What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Safe and secure from all alarms," (Hymn 469).

[We sang this song earlier, but] does it describe your experience today? Is this hymn a declaration of your current testimony, or just a hope and a prayer for some future you think you might never have?

The reason I ask is that I have reason to believe that many of us in this great SDA denomination are very sure of the truth of the Sabbath, very sure of the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, very sure of what happens at death, at both resurrections, and at the event called hell, BUT we're not so sure about our own salvation. We may know what makes the beast beastly, but we don't necessarily know what makes the saints patient. We've got a hold on the hour of judgment and the fear of God, but maybe lost touch with the everlasting gospel, the GOOD NEWS of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Well, I say it's time we get it back! It's time that we became patient saints, able to sing that hymn as an honest expression of our present experience. It's important, church. Our mission as a church is to proclaim this awesome and important truth to this generation, this world about to end. But we must proclaim the WHOLE truth, and nothing BUT the truth.

All of our truth-filled witnessing must flow from and lead back to the foundation of our faith, the Author and Finisher of our faith, the gospel GOOD NEWS of our faith: JESUS CHRIST, our Savior. Let's take a little journey through the Scriptures which outline this "blessed assurance" to which we are called:

I Thess 1:2-5. The gospel Paul proclaimed came to his hearers in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in MUCH ASSURANCE. The SDA witness must also come in much assurance, "full assurance," as Hebrews 10:22 said. If we aren't doing this, we run the risk of making discouraged Christians instead of disciples of Christ-- persecuting beasts instead of patient saints. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind," 2 Timothy 1:7; God has "saved us," verse 9. Read how unashamed Paul was of his assurance in the gospel, 2 Tim. 1:9-12. We usually are not ashamed to speak WITH assurance; are we ashamed to speak of assurance?

Peter, a different apostle, with the same assurance: I Peter 1:3-4 "living hope" in "an inheritance;" see, we can hope in this inheritance, because the Savior has already died and given it to us. It's probably not comfortable, not appropriate for us to hope for human inheritances, because we feel greedy; we feel uneasy about benefitting from the death of a loved one. I know I don't look forward at all to the death of my parents; praise the Lord they are still with us. I might get a little something of an inheritance from them, but I NEVER EVER think about it. Maybe you are the same way.

But this inheritance is different; Jesus has already died the death required to give it to you. It's already there, waiting for you! It is "reserved in heaven," verses 4-5.

John, yet another apostle, but with the same assurance: I John 5:9-13 "You may KNOW that you have eternal life." If I knew that, I really could have a "blessed assurance!" But too often, I don't. I think many other Adventists are the same. We are robbed of our assurance of salvation, and our faith becomes weak, and our witness becomes powerless. Why? What has robbed Adventists of our assurance in the Good News? "An enemy hath done this," certainly not the truth. A misunderstanding has crept in, robbing us of our assurance. Here's my theory on this (and I'm not alone in this conclusion):

Our Protestant sister-churches often proclaim the gospel w/ a "once-saved, always-saved" emphasis, the belief that it is impossible to be lost, once you are saved. Some of them go so far as to embrace the idea of Pre-Destination, the belief that God has already pre-determined and chosen who will be saved and who will be lost, in other words there really is no such thing as free will. Adventists have correctly identified these ideas as errors, Biblical misinterpretations, and dangerous to a healthy faith. But in reaction against these popular errors, we get pushed to the opposite extremes. While avoiding the pitfall of "too much assurance," we've sometimes robbed ourselves of all assurance. But this, too, is a pitfall to be avoided.

Another reason some Adventists are weak in assurance, and sometimes are terrified of the future, is the error of legalism. This is the term usually given to any understanding of salvation besides "salvation by faith alone, by grace alone." Actually, this understanding of salvation is the official position of the church, and is often taught very clearly from pulpits and in books and writings. My old pastor Dwight Nelson in Net '98 did a great job of teaching salvation by faith alone. But sometimes the Good News of the Gospel gets overshadowed in our important teachings about the Law, the Sabbath, the Judgment, and the fearful warnings about last day events we teach from Daniel and Revelation. That's no reason to do away with those important teachings; if we did, we would cease to be Adventists! But the love of our Savior and the truth of His Gospel must shine through each and every one of these important doctrines of ours. Especially when it comes to the Law, and teaching all the many things we can do to increase our own happiness, please our Lord, and live a Christian lifestyle.

We feel tempted to place some saving value on all these good things we do, like a good little Pathfinder who earned her camping honor. We want to feel like God is now just a little bit obligated to give us heaven, now that we've done everything He's commanded us to do. "Merit" is what the Boy Scouts call it; Pathfinders have honors, Scouts have "merit badges." Are there any Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts here today? If you got any merit badges in the Scouts, you got them because you worked for them; you learned, you practiced, you studied, and you EARNED them. You "MERITED" them. And by meriting those honors and badges, you earned the right to be called a Scout.

And our whole society uses the same merit currency to motivate ourselves to embrace the American Work Ethic:

"Work hard,"

"Try your best,"

"Keep your nose to the grindstone,"

Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps,

Earn the best grades,

Make sure your team wins the trophy; "We'll accept you just the way you are, as long as you are perfect;"

Look at what a superpower status we have merited for ourselves.

It's a very legalistic society! And it's not all bad, because it has made our society strong, and powerful, and the envy of many nations. We need a strong work ethic!

But when it comes to the Good News of salvation and the blessed assurance, a work ethic and legalism become errors that erode faith and rob the truth of grace of its saving power. There is NOTHING we can do to add to the gift of grace. "The wages of sin are death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." We may try to merit salvation, but that is an impossibility. We need a GRACE ETHIC, when it comes to the gospel. Those good works we love to do and teach are merely the fruit of an already-saved follower of Jesus, they are nowhere near the root of his salvation. We need to sink our faith into the grace ethic of Jesus Christ. Listen to Ellen White on this point:

Faith and Works, page 19: There is not a point that needs to be dwelt upon more earnestly, repeated more frequently, or established more firmly in the minds of all than the impossibility of fallen man meriting anything by his own best good works. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Page 20: If man cannot, by any of his good works, merit salvation, then it must be wholly of grace, received by man as a sinner because he receives and believes in Jesus. It is wholly a free gift. Justification by faith is placed beyond controversy. And all this controversy is ended, as soon as the matter is settled that the merits of fallen man in his good works can never procure eternal life for him.

Page 102: Many are losing the right way, in consequence of thinking that they must climb to heaven, that they must do something to merit the favor of God. They seek to make themselves better by their own unaided efforts. This they can never accomplish. Christ has made the way by dying our Sacrifice, by living our Example, by becoming our great High Priest.

Selected Messages, vol. 1, page 363: If you would stand through the time of trouble, you must know Christ, and appropriate the gift of His righteousness, which He imputes to the repentant sinner.

The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, page 560: You will meet with those who will say, "You are too much excited over this matter. You are too much in earnest. You should not be reaching for the righteousness of Christ, and making so much of that. You should preach the law." As a people, we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain. We must preach Christ in the law, and there will be sap and nourishment in the preaching that will be as food to the famishing flock of God. We must not trust in our own merits at all, but in the merits of Jesus of Nazareth. Our eyes must be anointed with eye-salve. We must draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to us, if we come in his own appointed way.

Some hear a presentation on how law-keeping is not our Savior, and they fear the presenter has a hidden agenda to take away law-keeping. Some have the idea that if a person says that keeping the law can't save you, you somehow are supporting lawlessness and sinning as a way of life. They thought this of Paul, when he presented the Gospel. And Paul said "God forbid" and "Certainly not!" to the questions, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" and "Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?" (Romans 6:1, 2, 15). Paul explained that it is possible to be saved by faith alone and still proclaim the law "holy, just, and good," (Rom. 7:12). Yes, people with a grace ethic can still say to God, with David, "O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day," in Psalm 119:97. Law-keeping, to the grace-oriented Christian, becomes one of many ways they show their love for their Savior, and follow Him wherever He goes.

CLOSING STORY: A man once asked a pastor, "Is it possible to be saved, pastor, and not be sure whether or not you really were?" The pastor answered, "What would be the point?" I say amen to that. Why bother living a Christian life if you don't have assurance in Christ? Why pretend to be an ambassador of the Good News of the Gospel when your version of it really isn't Good News? How can we sincerely sing one of our favorite hymns, "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine," if we don't really have any assurance that we have a place in heaven reserved for us? If you have assurance now, pleasing sing this, our closing hymn, with all the joy and spiritual power that assurance has given you.

Closing Hymn