SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2024 11:57 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-5 “The
Certainty of Christian Assurance”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 2:3-6
Message of the verses: “3 By this we know that
we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says,
"I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a
liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but
whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By
this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought
himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
I have to say that I did not finish the quote that I
was ending with last night and so I want to finish that quote that comes from
John MacArthur’s commentary on 1 John.
“Moving beyond some of the earlier
Reformers (who had primarily focused on refuting Rome), the Westminster divines
addressed the antinomian tendencies of their day by stressing subjective
assurance in addition to John Calvin’s (and Scripture’s) teaching on objective
assurance. They emphasized personal examination
that would lead believers to recognize practical evidences in their lives of
obedience to God’s moral law and commands.
But some in the church pressed to the extreme the Westminster idea ‘that
a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties’ before
gaining full assurance. For example, the
seventeenth-century English Puritans’ sober, searching preaching caused many
people to be generally lacking in assurance, unable to enjoy the confidence even
of the evident fruit of salvation. As a
result, some became frightened, insecure, and obsessed with morbid
introspection, stringent self-examination, and heavy doubts as to whether or
not they were elect, or even could be.
Puritan pastors wrote many treaties to exhort, encourage, and comfort
such troubled souls, especially expositing what the apostle Paul wrote
concerning the Spirit’s witness:
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of
God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery
leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by
which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies
with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Rom. 8:14-16).
Now I want to comment something that is personal to
me, and that has to do with my very early Christian life. I have to say that my testimony is probably
different than many, if not all true believers. It was in January of 1974, five
months after my wife and I got married, that I went by myself to visit a high
school, and neighbor friend of mine in Casselberry Florida. I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that I was
married soon after high school and the marriage lasted only four years. We had a daughter and soon after the divorce
I allowed my ex-wife and her husband to adopt our daughter. (There is more to that story which I will get
into later.) I meet my wife who has been
married to me for 51 years + on the 11th of March in 1973 and we
were married on the 11th of August 1974. While I was visiting my friend in January of
1974 he asked me if I would want to listen to some sermons which were on tapes
by a man named Hal Lindsey on the end times.
I listened to one each day and it was during that time period that the
Lord saved me. Like I said my testimony
is different than most believer’s testimonies.
At any rate the sermons that I listened to were on the end times, and it
is the end times that has been a theme of many of my Spiritual Diaries that I
write about. The point that I want to
make here is that it took me a few years to believe that I have assurance
knowing that I am saved, and that, I can say from being a believer for over
fifty years has brought great peace to my heart. It took a while, but it was the work of the
Holy Spirit using preaching and reading from the Word of God and also from
great Christian Pastors to show me that I truly have assurance of my salvation.
Looks
like I will finish this section in the next SD.
I hope that my testimony about salvation and assurance will be helpful
to some who read this SD.
9/27/2024 12:47 AM
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