What'is Assurance, And Who Needs It?

What'is Assurance, And Who Needs It?

What'is Assurance, And Who Needs It?

Many people would like to have the theme of eternity and their relationship with God resolved. But they do not know if this is possible.

Some expect their own goodness to be sufficient to receive God's approval, while others believe that religious devotion will tip the scales in their favor. And in a secular society, many say that everything is relative; one point of view is as good as another, and these beliefs become the code by which they live. So what is the Christian vision of being safe?

1. TIME CHANGES

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge. Is this question of the assurance that we are right with God clearly taught in the pages of the scriptures? What about belief in past centuries and can we learn something from a quick view of the past?

Some modern evangelicals see a clear difference of approach between the Puritans in the seventeenth century and say, Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley in the eighteenth century.

 Among the Puritans, security was seen as the ripe fruit of a soul quest in which the believer sought to "ensure that [his calling and election]" (2 Peter 1:10) was resolved. However, a remarkable change in the understanding of security comes with Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Massachusetts, during the resurgence of 1734-1735. Edwards preached the word of God with power.

He invited people to be right with God. He preached judgment, great mercy through Christ and, in comparison with previous Puritan practice, he urged new believers to obtain security and explained how they could identify the marks of their own safety.

2. Great alarm clock

Almost at the same time as the New England Renaissance, Whitefield and then Wesley in England gave rise to a widespread renaissance and preaching on the ground to a large number of anxious people, many of whom secured the assurance of salvation .

However, on both sides of the Atlantic, some who wanted to find this security simple and straightforward did not find it in the short term, but they were clarified later. This too is extremely personal: God does not treat people exactly the same way.

Some were slower, more hesitant to understand than for all those who embrace Christ, who are brought to live in a living relationship with him, "so there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8: 1). ).

However, in England, a vigorous gospel preaching outside the buildings of consecrated churches surprised a nation. Now it was common for multitudes, often thousands of people, to hear passionate appeals to find the cleansing of guilt and sin, justifying themselves by faith in Christ alone.

The need for a new spiritual birth has been proclaimed with great urgency and power. Salvation was freely offered and a large number of people received a guarantee: they simply believed in the rich promise of the Gospel that the living Savior welcomes and welcomes all who come to him with repentance and trust.

 Not everyone immediately gained security, but in general the era of the Puritans, with the assurance that it was a later mark of spiritual maturity, had made history.

3. INCREDIBLE GRACE!

What was the difference between the two ages, when the same evangelical message was proclaimed, the same Savior and the same truths? The Great Awakening was a time of great harvest, the time to go on the roads and roads to encourage vagabonds to return home.

Now the new converts have accepted the free offer of peace with God on the basis of the finished sacrificial work of Christ, and they would know, often on the spot, that it was accepted. Oh, the joy was overwhelming, "inexpressible and full of glory"! (1 Peter 1: 8) Many were astonished to be called, "from darkness to their marvelous light" (1 Peter 2: 9), whom Christ, the Son of God, had loved and shed their precious blood for them. save and condemn them, and brought a deep sense that their sins were forgiven and forgotten, thrown into the depths forever!

4. COME TODAY

It was more like the days of the New Testament, when Peter proclaimed Christ, and on the Day of Pentecost, thousands of people believed.

There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit exercised powerful power in the eighteenth century, strengthening the preached word, convincing people of great sins and assuring them of the wonderful life of salvation, arising from God and receiving testimony from God. the Spirit of God the one was now a child of God.