The Bedrock of Your Assurance

God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit. (2 Thessalonians 2:13)

The Bible speaks of our election — God’s choosing us — in Christ before the foundation of the earth (Ephesians 1:4) before we had done anything good or evil (Romans 9:11). Therefore, our election is unconditional in the strictest sense. Neither our faith nor our obedience is the basis of it. It is free and utterly undeserved.

On the other hand, dozens of passages in the Bible speak of our final salvation (as opposed to our election in eternity past) as conditional upon a changed heart and life. So, the question arises, How can I have the assurance that I will persevere in the faith and holiness necessary for inheriting eternal life?

The answer is that assurance is rooted in our election. Second Peter 1:10 says, “Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” Divine election is the foundation of God’s commitment to save me, and therefore that he will undertake to work in me by sanctifying grace what his electing grace has begun.

This is the meaning of the new covenant. Everyone who believes in Jesus is a secure beneficiary of the new covenant, because Jesus said in Luke 22:20, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” That is, by my blood I secure the new covenant for all who are mine.

In the new covenant God does not merely command obedience; he gives it. “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27; cf. 11:20). Those are new covenant promises.

Election is God’s eternal commitment to do this for his people. So, election guarantees that those whom God justifies by faith he will most assuredly glorify (Romans 8:30). This means that he will unfailingly work in us all the conditions laid down for glorification.

Election is the final ground of assurance because, since it is God’s commitment to save, it is also God’s commitment to enable all that is necessary for salvation.

John Piper 

The Dangers of Drifting

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” REVELATION 2:5

 

PONDER THIS

What is a backslider? A backslider is not an unsaved person. No unsaved person can be a backslider. When Christians use the term backslider we’re not talking about the lost, we’re talking about the saved. You must go somewhere in order to slide back; that is, you must have known the Lord before you can backslide away from Him. A lost person is just lost. The backslider is a saved person who’s out of fellowship with God.

If there was ever a time when you loved the Lord Jesus Christ more than you love Him at this moment; if there was ever a time when He meant more to you, when prayer was sweeter to you, when worship was more real to you, when your service was more effective for the Lord Jesus Christ; if there was ever a time like that when it was more than it is now, you may be backsliding.

What might be some evidence that you are backsliding in your fellowship with Christ?

What are some ways to guard against this each day?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend dedicated time in prayer, asking God to reveal where you might have backslidden and to renew your fellowship with Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

May 24

Mark 15:42-47

[42] And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, [43] Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. [44] Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. [45] And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. [46] And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. [47] Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Galatians 5:13-26

[13] For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [14] For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [15] But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

[16] But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [18] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, [21] envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [24] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

[25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Psalm 117

    [1] Praise the LORD, all nations!

        Extol him, all peoples! 

    [2] For great is his steadfast love toward us,

        and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

    Praise the LORD!

2 Samuel 22

[1] And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. [2] He said, 

    “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 

    [3]     my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

    my shield, and the horn of my salvation,

        my stronghold and my refuge,

        my savior; you save me from violence. 

    [4] I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,

        and I am saved from my enemies.

    [5] “For the waves of death encompassed me,

        the torrents of destruction assailed me; 

    [6] the cords of Sheol entangled me;

        the snares of death confronted me.

    [7] “In my distress I called upon the LORD;

        to my God I called.

    From his temple he heard my voice,

        and my cry came to his ears.

    [8] “Then the earth reeled and rocked;

        the foundations of the heavens trembled

        and quaked, because he was angry. 

    [9] Smoke went up from his nostrils,

        and devouring fire from his mouth;

        glowing coals flamed forth from him. 

    [10] He bowed the heavens and came down;

        thick darkness was under his feet. 

    [11] He rode on a cherub and flew;

        he was seen on the wings of the wind. 

    [12] He made darkness around him his canopy,

        thick clouds, a gathering of water. 

    [13] Out of the brightness before him

        coals of fire flamed forth. 

    [14] The LORD thundered from heaven,

        and the Most High uttered his voice. 

    [15] And he sent out arrows and scattered them;

        lightning, and routed them. 

    [16] Then the channels of the sea were seen;

        the foundations of the world were laid bare,

    at the rebuke of the LORD,

        at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

    [17] “He sent from on high, he took me;

        he drew me out of many waters. 

    [18] He rescued me from my strong enemy,

        from those who hated me,

        for they were too mighty for me. 

    [19] They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

        but the LORD was my support. 

    [20] He brought me out into a broad place;

        he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

    [21] “The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;

        according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. 

    [22] For I have kept the ways of the LORD

        and have not wickedly departed from my God. 

    [23] For all his rules were before me,

        and from his statutes I did not turn aside. 

    [24] I was blameless before him,

        and I kept myself from guilt. 

    [25] And the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

        according to my cleanness in his sight.

    [26] “With the merciful you show yourself merciful;

        with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 

    [27] with the purified you deal purely,

        and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. 

    [28] You save a humble people,

        but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down. 

    [29] For you are my lamp, O LORD,

        and my God lightens my darkness. 

    [30] For by you I can run against a troop,

        and by my God I can leap over a wall. 

    [31] This God—his way is perfect;

        the word of the LORD proves true;

        he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

    [32] “For who is God, but the LORD?

        And who is a rock, except our God? 

    [33] This God is my strong refuge

        and has made my way blameless. 

    [34] He made my feet like the feet of a deer

        and set me secure on the heights. 

    [35] He trains my hands for war,

        so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 

    [36] You have given me the shield of your salvation,

        and your gentleness made me great. 

    [37] You gave a wide place for my steps under me,

        and my feet did not slip; 

    [38] I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,

        and did not turn back until they were consumed. 

    [39] I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise;

        they fell under my feet. 

    [40] For you equipped me with strength for the battle;

        you made those who rise against me sink under me. 

    [41] You made my enemies turn their backs to me,

        those who hated me, and I destroyed them. 

    [42] They looked, but there was none to save;

        they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them. 

    [43] I beat them fine as the dust of the earth;

        I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets.

    [44] “You delivered me from strife with my people;

        you kept me as the head of the nations;

        people whom I had not known served me. 

    [45] Foreigners came cringing to me;

        as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me. 

    [46] Foreigners lost heart

        and came trembling out of their fortresses.

    [47] “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,

        and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation, 

    [48] the God who gave me vengeance

        and brought down peoples under me, 

    [49] who brought me out from my enemies;

        you exalted me above those who rose against me;

        you delivered me from men of violence.

    [50] “For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,

        and sing praises to your name. 

    [51] Great salvation he brings to his king,

        and shows steadfast love to his anointed,

        to David and his offspring forever.”

 

Is Christ Worth It?

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26–27)

Jesus is unashamed and unafraid of telling us up front the “worst” — the painful cost of being a Christian: hating family (verse 26), carrying a cross (verse 27), renouncing possessions (verse 33). There is no small print in the covenant of grace. It is all big, and bold. No cheap grace! Very costly! Come, and be my disciple.

But Satan hides his worst and shows only his best. All that really matters in the deal with Satan is in small print on the back page.

On the front page in big, bold letters are the words, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), and “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). But on the back page in small print — so small you can only read it with the magnifying glass of the Bible — it says, “And after the fleeting pleasures, you will suffer with me forever in hell.”

Why is Jesus willing to show us his “worst” as well as his best, while Satan will only show us his best? Matthew Henry answers, “Satan shows the best, but hides the worst, because his best will not [counterbalance] his worst; but Christ’s will abundantly.”

The call of Jesus is not just a call to suffering and self-denial; it is first a call to a banquet. This is the point of the parable in Luke 14:16–24. Jesus also promises a glorious resurrection where all the losses of this life will be repaid (Luke 14:14). He also tells us that he will help us endure the hardships (Luke 22:32). He also tells us our Father will give us the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). He promises that even if we are killed for the kingdom, “not a hair of your head will perish” (Luke 21:18).

Which means that when we sit down to calculate the cost of following Jesus — when we weigh the “worst” and the “best” — he is worth it. Abundantly worth it (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17).

Not so with Satan. Stolen bread is sweet, but afterward the mouth is full of gravel (Proverbs 20:17).

John Piper 

When Money Takes Control

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 TIMOTHY 6:10

Ponder This

Money is neither good nor bad. It's either master or servant—however we make it. But the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

When a man says, “I will haste to get rich; rather than seek God, I will seek the things of this world,” it warps his life and distorts his values. It's amazing what the love of money and the things of this world will do to someone. Those who chase money lose their discretion. No matter how much they have in the bank, they are impoverished if the goal of their lives is to be rich and famous.

How have you personally experienced the danger of the love of money?

How can we guard against this each day?

Practice This

Prayerfully brainstorm ways you can guard against an improper love of money and seek to put some of these practices into action this week.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

May 23

Mark 15:33-41

[33] And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. [34] And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [35] And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” [36] And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” [37] And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. [38] And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. [39] And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

[40] There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. [41] When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Galatians 5:1-12

[1] For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

[2] Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [3] I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [6] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

[7] You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [8] This persuasion is not from him who calls you. [9] A little leaven leavens the whole lump. [10] I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. [11] But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. [12] I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Psalm 116

    [1] I love the LORD, because he has heard

        my voice and my pleas for mercy. 

    [2] Because he inclined his ear to me,

        therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 

    [3] The snares of death encompassed me;

        the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

        I suffered distress and anguish. 

    [4] Then I called on the name of the LORD:

        “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”

    [5] Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;

        our God is merciful. 

    [6] The LORD preserves the simple;

        when I was brought low, he saved me. 

    [7] Return, O my soul, to your rest;

        for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

    [8] For you have delivered my soul from death,

        my eyes from tears,

        my feet from stumbling; 

    [9] I will walk before the LORD

        in the land of the living.

    [10] I believed, even when I spoke:

        “I am greatly afflicted”; 

    [11] I said in my alarm,

        “All mankind are liars.”

    [12] What shall I render to the LORD

        for all his benefits to me? 

    [13] I will lift up the cup of salvation

        and call on the name of the LORD, 

    [14] I will pay my vows to the LORD

        in the presence of all his people.

    [15] Precious in the sight of the LORD

        is the death of his saints. 

    [16] O LORD, I am your servant;

        I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.

        You have loosed my bonds. 

    [17] I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving

        and call on the name of the LORD. 

    [18] I will pay my vows to the LORD

        in the presence of all his people, 

    [19] in the courts of the house of the LORD,

        in your midst, O Jerusalem.

    Praise the LORD!

2 Samuel 20

[1] Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, 

    “We have no portion in David,

    and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;

    every man to his tents, O Israel!”

    [2] So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

[3] And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

[4] Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” [5] So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. [6] And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.” [7] And there went out after him Joab’s men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. [8] When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. [9] And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. [10] But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died. 

Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.  [11] And one of Joab’s young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” [12] And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. [13] When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

[14] And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah, and all the Bichrites assembled and followed him in. [15] And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down. [16] Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’” [17] And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” [18] Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter. [19] I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?” [20] Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy! [21] That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.” [22] Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

[23] Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; [24] and Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; [25] and Sheva was secretary; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; [26] and Ira the Jairite was also David’s priest.

2 Samuel 21

[1] Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” [2] So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. [3] And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?” [4] The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” [5] They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, [6] let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

[7] But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. [8] The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; [9] and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

[10] Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. [11] When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, [12] David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. [13] And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. [14] And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

[15] There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. [16] And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. [17] But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

[18] After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. [19] And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. [20] And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. [21] And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. [22] These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

 

Jesus Knows His Sheep

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.” (John 10:27)

Jesus knows those who are his. What is this knowledge?

John 10:3 is a close parallel to John 10:27. It says, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

So, when Jesus says, “I know them,” this means at least that he knows them by name; that is, he knows them individually and intimately. They are not anonymous, lost in the flock.

John 10:14–15 provides another insight: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

There is a real similarity between the way Jesus knows his Father in heaven and the way he knows his sheep. Jesus sees himself in the Father, and he sees himself in his disciples.

To some degree Jesus recognizes his own character in his disciples. He sees his own brand mark on the sheep. This endears them to him.

He is like a husband waiting for his wife at the airport, watching as each person disembarks from the plane. When she appears, he knows her, he recognizes her features, he sees in her eyes a happy reflection of his own love. He delights in her. She is the only one he embraces.

The apostle Paul puts it like this: “God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his’” (2 Timothy 2:19).

It is hard to overemphasize what a tremendous privilege it is to be known personally, intimately, lovingly by the Son of God. It is a precious gift to all his sheep, and it contains within it profound, personal fellowship and affection and the promise of eternal life.

John Piper