being sure about salvation - part 1

Being Sure About Salvation

The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening was a religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of Great Awakening

occurring from the early 18th century to the late 20th century, each characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a

sharp increase of interest in religion, a profound sense of conviction and redemption on the part of those affected, a jump in evangelical church

membership, and the formation of new religious movements and denominations.www.confidentchristians.org

The First Great Awakening

The First Great Awakening began in 1725 and lasted to about 1750. Leaders of the Awakening included Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Great

numbers of people were claiming conversions. About six years afterwards, critics charged there was nothing real about the Awakening because many

people who claimed to have been converted showed no evidence of it.

Does this sound at all like what sometimes happens today?www.confidentchristians.org

Jonathan Edwards Responds

To respond to the critics of the Awakening, Jonathan Edwards wrote “A Treatise Concerning

Religious Affections”, which he used to outline the evidence of true conversion – who was really a Christian and who was

either a pretender and/or someone who was self-

deceived.

www.confidentchristians.org

Is there a way to tell who is

a true Christian and who is not?


“There is no question whatsoever, that is of greater importance to mankind, and what is more concerns every individual person to be well resolved in, than this: What

are the distinguishing qualifications of those that are in favor with God, and entitled

to his eternal rewards?”-Jonathan Edwards

A Treatise Concerning Religious AffectionsPage 1


Three Alternatives for the Salvation Experience

1. Permanent nature of regeneration in reality; permanent nature of regeneration in experience

2. Temporary nature of regeneration in reality; Temporary nature of regeneration in experience

3. Permanent nature of regeneration in reality; temporary nature of regeneration in experience


God Doesn’t Want True Believers to Doubt

“These things I have written to you who

believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have

eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)


“And by what is seen of the terrible consequences of this counterfeit

religion, when not distinguished from true religion, God’s people in general

have their minds unhinged and unsettled in things of religion, and

know not where to set their foot, or what to think or do; and many are

brought into doubts, whether there be anything in religion, and heresy, and infidelity, and atheism greatly

prevail.”-Jonathan Edwards


“I was once asked by a Hindu friend: ‘If this conversion is truly supernatural, why is it not more evident in the lives of so many Christians that I know?’ That is

the one question that truly bothers me. We talk all the time

about a God who transforms lives, and yet constantly I must admit that I am surrounded by

people who call themselves Christians whose lives have not

been transformed.”- Ravi Zacharias


God Doesn’t Want True Believers to Doubt

“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16)


Two Operations of the Holy Spirit

1. Saving Operation: produces salvation and assurance

2. Common Operation: general conviction and impression of God’s goodness


The common operation of the Spirit may “Sober,

arrest, and convict men and brings them to what

at first appears to be repentance and faith yet

these influences fall short of inward saving

renewal.” - Jonathan Edwards


Westminster Confession

“This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are

made, the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God, which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.”


But We’re Also Told to Examine Ourselves

"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless

indeed you fail the test?" (2 Corinthians 13:5)


But We’re Also Told to Examine Ourselves

“Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you”

(2 Peter 1:10)


Westminster Confession

“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 salvation (which hope of theirs shall perish): 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, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.”


What Causes False Assurance?

1. Signed a card, walked the aisle, got baptized

2. Failure to self-examine their life where sin is concerned

3. Fixation on works4. Comparison game with

others


“And so it is ever likely to be in the church, whenever religion

revives remarkably, till we have learned well to distinguish

between true and false religion, between saving affections and

experiences, and those manifold fair shows, and glistering

appearances, by which they are counterfeited; the consequences

of which, when they are distinguished, are often inexpressibly dreadful.”

- Jonathan Edwards


Overview of the State of the Saved & Unsaved



The Evidences of Being Lost

Human Birth Experience / Old Nature

Fleshly Affections

Positive / Negative

Love things of world / sin

Reject God / things of God

Fruit

Works

Personal life

Darkened Mind

Reject Spiritual Truth

Mind centered on self/flesh

Maturing/Growth Process

Away From Toward

God & Holy Things

Self & Sinful Things

Sinful Motion


The Evidences of Being LostFleshly Affections

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness,

carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

(Galatians 5:19–21)

“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. . . .For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions” (Romans 1:24, 26)

“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption” (Galatians 6:8)

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ” (1 John 2:15)

“The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.” (Luke 10:16)

“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ” (John 3:20)


The Evidences of Being Lost

Darkened Mind“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to

do those things which are not proper” (Romans 1:28)

“For the mind set on the flesh is death . . . The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:6-7)

“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17)

“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. ”

(1 Corinthians 2:14)

“But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. ” (2 Corinthians 3:14)

“in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ”

(2 Corinthians 4:4)

“whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. ” (Philippians 3:19)

“It is affection that engages the covetous man, and him that is greedy of worldly profits, in his pursuits; and it is by the affections, that the ambitious man is put forward in pursuit of worldly glory; and it is the

affections also that actuate the voluptuous man, in his pursuit of pleasure and sensual delights: the world continues, from age to age, in a continual commotion and agitation, in a pursuit of these things,

but take away all affection, and the spring of all this motion would be gone, and the motion itself would cease.”

- Jonathan Edwardswww.confidentchristians.org

“Whatever a man thinks about, when he is free to think about what he will, that is what he is or will soon become.”

- A. W. Tozer


The Evidences of Salvation

New Birth / New Nature

Holy Affections

Positive / Negative

Love God/Things of

God

Hate sin / world / enemies of

God

Fruit

Works

Personal life

Renewed Mind

Accept Spiritual Truth

Mind of the Sprit in Holy

living

Maturing/Growth Process

Away From Toward


God & Holy Things

Holy Motion


The Evidences of Being SavedHoly Affections

“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:21)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ”

(Galatians 5:22–23)

“Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ” (1 Thessalonians 4:9)

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. ” (2 Timothy 1:7)

“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his

brother. ” (1 John 3:10)


The Evidences of Being Saved

Renewed Mind“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. ”

(Romans 12:2)

“And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ” (Matthew 22:37)

“Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45)

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ” (Romans 8:5)

“and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:23–24)

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3)

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. ” (Colossians 3:2)

“True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.”

- Jonathan Edwardswww.confidentchristians.org


The Struggle for Domination

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in

opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. [the new affections]” (Galatians 5:16–17)

“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. ” (Romans 7:15)


The Move toward Holiness

Away From Toward

God & Holy Things


Sinful Motion

Away From Toward


God & Holy Things

Holy Motion

Old Nature

New NatureD

isru

pts

mat

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ty

“The principle evidence of life is

motion; so the principle evidence of saving grace is holy

motion.” - Jonathan Edwards


Five Teachings of Christ Provide the Details

1. The beginning of the Sermon on the Mount2. The end of the Sermon on the Mount3. The parable of the ten virgins4. The parable of the sower5. The parable of the wheat and the tares


The beginning of the Beatitudes


A Checklist of the Saved/Unsaved

“And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall

be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for

the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you

shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way. ” (Luke 6:20–26)


Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Genuine believers are broken in spirit; they realize their need for a savior and are devoid of a humanistic approach to religion and life. They understand they are

spiritually bankrupt.


Blessed are the Hungry

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

Genuine believers want to see God’s righteousness prevail, both on earth and in their own lives. They eagerly desire God’s ways and reject the world’s ways.


Blessed are the Mournful

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” (Luke 6:21)

Genuine believers will weep over their own sin, but will rejoice to see their sins removed in Christ. They will also suffer persecution (as the next verse shows) but

they will overcome and be victorious over their enemies.


Blessed are the Persecuted

“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same

way their fathers used to treat the prophets.” (Luke 6:22–23)

True believers are viewed as enemies of the world and of unbelievers. They will suffer persecution in some form and be mocked, ridiculed, and rejected,

just as the real prophets of God were.


“It is a special pleasure to record my indebtedness to the Discovery Institute for loyal support over many

years. That the institute has been vilified by all the right people is a special sort of

satisfaction.”- Dr. David Berlinski

The Devil’s Delusion


Marks of Unbelievers

“But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in

full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe

to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of

you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same

way. ” (Luke 6:24–26)

Woe: ‘Alas’; denotes pain or displeasure


A Checklist of the Saved/Unsaved


The Saved The Unsaved

Know they need spiritual salvation Are ‘rich’ in themselves and see no need

Hunger for God’s righteousness Have no appetite for God’s righteousness

Mourn over their sin Laugh in their sin

Are rejected/persecuted by the world Are welcomed/accepted by the world

Being Sure About Salvation

being sure about salvation - part 1

Spiritual

god doesnt

jonathan edwards respondsto

waves of great awakening

children of god

promises of salvation

son of god

true believers

jonathan edwardsa treatise