Word of Salvation – February 2025
Blessed Assurance
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on W.C.F. ch.18 & Isaiah 50:6-10
Reading: Rom.8:28-39; Isaiah 50:5-19; Westminster Confession – ch.18
Singing: BoW.090a O God, our help in ages past
– BoW.460 O God of Bethel by whose hand
– BoW.416 Amazing grace
– BoW.372 I know not why God’s wondrous grace
Theme: Assurance of faith is not automatic for God’s people but needs to be sought and is readily available.
Introd: Just over a century ago Horatio Spafford and his wife Anna, lived in Chicago in the U.S.
He was a lawyer. In 1870 their only son, a lad of four, died of scarlet fever.
A year later all the family’s investments were wiped out in the great Chicago fires.
Horatio decided to take his family away from it all for a holiday to England.
In November 1873 they were set to board a ship to take them across the Atlantic.
But at the last minute some business matters came up.
So Anna Spafford and their four girls boarded the boat alone.
Horatio would follow as soon as the business dealings would allow.
Nine days later Spafford received a telegram from his wife in Wales.
On it were just two words: Saved alone!
In mid-Atlantic their ship had collided with another, claiming the lives of 226 people.
Anna was miraculously saved by a plank supporting her unconscious body.
Horatio Spafford boarded the next ship out of New York to be with his grieving wife.
At a certain point in the trip the captain called him to his cabin.
He told Spafford: “As near as I can work out we are at the place where the ship was wrecked.
At this place the water is nearly five kilometres deep.”
Horatio Spafford went back to his cabin where he penned the well-known words:
When sorrows like sea billows roll
You have taught me to say, “It is well, it well with my soul.!”
How could such wonderful words of assurance be penned in such trying circumstances?
Wonderful certainty and confidence in a situation where for many would be only doubt and despair.
I think of another… a far more well-known man… who also lost all his children in one day.
He too had lost all his investments… everything taken from him.
And as if that wasn’t enough he was afflicted with a terrible disease.
Yet when things were at their very worst Job wrote these magnificent lines.
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
In situations like these we expect doubt… even unbelief… and yet we find assurance and certainty.
A] YOUR SALVATION DOES NOT DEPEND ON YOUR ASSURANCE.
- In my years of ministry I have too often met many Christians who lack that kind of assurance.
I have often asked our people about assurance of salvation.
In catechism classes and pastoral visits…! And so often assurance is lacking.
If you were to die tonight and stand before God, are you sure it would be well with your soul?
Like Job are you absolutely confident that you will be raised to see your Saviour?
Some of us answer that question by saying: “I hope so…!”
A few of us even wonder whether anyone can ever really be certain about that.
Well, let me begin by comforting you.
Lacking assurance does not necessarily mean that you will be lost.
Your salvation does not depend on your assurance… it depends on Jesus alone.
When the W.Confess. sums up the Bible’s teaching about assurance it is very realistic about doubt.
a) First it admits that doubt do arise about our faith. Our faith is not always equally strong.
Unbelievers raise all sorts of questions that sow seeds of doubt in our minds.
We have those moments when our confidence about our relationship with God wavers.
b) Not only that but our confession assumes that people need to grow into that assurance.
For many people assurance doesn’t come suddenly on the day that they believe.
It comes as they grow in their knowledge of the Scriptures and the things of God.
c) The Confession especially admits that the circumstances of life can undermine assurance.
It reminds us that our faith can be shaken by trials and tragedies.
Or that we commit some particular sin… and the guilt of that robs us of our assurance.
- So we need to be realistic and admit that Christians can doubt and do doubt at times.
Isaiah is realistic about that too.
He has some marvellous pictures of assurance and certainty in chapter 50.
And later we’re going to draw confidence from those verses too.
They have been written down to reassure us and to affirm us in our faith.
But Isaiah also recognises that there are those who particularly need that reassurance.
Here I want to direct your attention to verse 10.
That’s where people are challenged to do something about their doubts and struggles.
But did you notice the kind of people who are addressed there?
Three things are said about them.
The first two things make clear that it’s God’s people who are being addressed.
a) First, he is speaking to people who fear the Lord.
That’s an OT expression for a right relationship with God… they know God.
Fear in this verse does not mean being petrified and scared of God.
It means to show him reverence and worship. These people trust the Lord.
b) Secondly, these people are said to obey the Word of God’s Servant.
They not only listen to those God sends to speak to them… they act on it.
Of course the Servant language here is ultimately fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So these are people who do the will of Jesus. They trust and obey.
c) And yet… thirdly… despite all of that, they walk in the darkness and have no light.
Things are so terrible for them that they can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
They are people full of uncertainty and there is a real possibility of despair.
These are genuine people of God… but seemingly without much confidence or assurance.
- Today it would be easy for me to show you other examples of doubt from the Bible.
It is a reality that assurance is often sadly lacking in God’s people.
And I could string together a list of people for whom that was true.
John the Baptiser at one point doubted whether Jesus was really the one who was to come.
So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus about it.
On the evening of Easter Sunday Thomas was absent when Jesus met with His disciples.
And ever since we have known him as “doubting Thomas”.
Earlier I mentioned Job… and his marvellous statement of assurance and faith.
On one occasion he even expressed his confidence in God this way
Even though he slays me, yet will I trust in Him. (13:15)
But it wasn’t always like that. Job too had his struggles.
And there are times when he argues – not only with his friends but also with his God.
So we need to admit that doubt is real.
Does that make it okay to doubt? Of course not…!
But I do want us to face the reality of doubt. And for two reasons.
First, because sometimes we feel so guilty about our doubts that it makes us doubt even more.
So we need to remember: doubt is not so much sin as failure to grasp the riches of the gospel.
And with the W.Confession I want to say that doubt simply highlights our need to grow in faith.
Second, I stress the reality of doubt to help us understand the gospel.
Our salvation does not depend on our assurance… or on our confidence.
It depends only and always on the finished work of Jesus. We are to trust in that alone.
B] YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO MAKE YOUR CALLING SURE.
- Now if doubt is real… but not okay… then that faces us with a challenge.
You have a duty to make sure about your salvation… to deal with your doubts.
The apostle Peter made that quite clear in his second letter.
In the first chapter he lays it on the line that we are to work at our faith.
We are to add to our faith goodness… and to goodness knowledge.
And to knowledge we are to add self-control and to self-control perseverance.
But then after telling us how we ought to work at our faith in these ways he sums up:
Therefore… be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure (2Pet.1:10).
IOW: Work at your faith so as to grow in assurance.
Work at faith because when you neglect to do that you actually weaken faith.
Faith is like body muscle:- Exercise it and it grows stronger. Neglect it and it grows weaker.
The W.Conf. gives us a very good reason why we need to confirm our calling and election.
In the opening words it tells us that people can deceive themselves.
It is a possible to have a false sense of assurance.
It’s possible to go with a wonderful impression of heaven right into hell.
“Hypocrites and unregenerate people deceive themselves.”
They are confidently sure of their salvation… maybe more confident of it than you are.
Of course they’re going to heaven… they’ve always lived a good life.
And when you hear the eulogies at their funerals God wouldn’t dare pass them by.
But the confession says that their presumptuousness will die with them.
- We see this same obligation to work at our assurance in Isaiah 50.
Isaiah is addressing those who fear the Lord… who obey the word of the Servant but who have no light.
But Isaiah doesn’t want them to stay in the darkness.
It’s no fun when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
So Isaiah calls those in darkness and without light to deal with their problem.
He calls them to trust in the name of the Lord.
”The name of the Lord” – is a very common expression in the Bible.
It occurs more than one hundred times.
The idea is that God stands behind His name.
The name of God – Yahweh – represents all that God is.
The great ‘I Am”, who is and who was and always will be.
So when there’s no light at the end of the tunnel simply trust in that name.
To drive the point home Isaiah calls them to rely on their God.
Let’s remember that Isaiah is set in the context of the Jews about to go into exile in Babylon.
And those years of exile will be dark days. Many will die.
Their freedom will be taken away… their homeland ravished… their temple destroyed.
In those tough times for God’s people, questions will arise… and their faith will waver.
But now Isaiah gives the answer to our times of blackness: Look to your God..!
So the answer to doubt is a God-ward focus.
In times of darkness we have to take our focus off our problems and put it on God.
Trust in the name of the Lord… rely on your God.
- The Bible repeatedly gives us that same answer by calling us to exercise faith and trust.
Yet in some ways that doesn’t seem to get us anywhere, does it? Let me put it this way.
Our times of doubt are times when our faith is not strong.
Our lack of assurance comes precisely because our faith is weak.
That’s why we’re walking in the dark… why we can’t see the light of certainty.
And now the answer to the problem is to trust in God’s name and rely on our God…!?
But that’s just the problem: our trust and reliance is too weak.
Maybe you’ve been in that sort of vicious circle.
You lack assurance and certainty… and I tell you: “That’s okay, just believe!”
And you say to me: “But that’s precisely what I’m struggling to do.”
Here the Westminster Confession is again helpful for us.
It talks about our faith growing through the ordinary working of the Holy Spirit.
And then we ask: Okay, how does the Holy Spirit normally work?
One of the very normal ways he works is through what we call the ‘means of grace’.
Faith grows as we sit under the teaching of God’s Word.
Assurance comes as we listen over and over to the message of the gospel.
And that is precisely how the Spirit worked through Isaiah.
Isaiah taught the Word… he held out the promise of the gospel.
And in that context he said: Trust in the name of the Lord… rely on your God.
The reason why we need to do this and work at our assurance is obvious.
Greater assurance will lead to more productive Christian lives.
Doubt and uncertainty hinder our service to God’s Kingdom. The W.C. puts it negatively:
“The products of assurance are never conducive to an undisciplined life.
Isaiah shows what happens when people don’t take up the challenge to grow in assurance.
In the last verse of the chapter he speaks about those who refuse to rely on God.
Their faith withers. For them the last words are: You will lie down in torment.
C] ASSURANCE POSSIBLE WITHOUT EXTRADORINARY MEANS.
- Today we are being reminded then that assurance and certainty is possible.
We can know with absolute certainty that we are in a state of grace.
If someone asks you if you are confident of your eternal destiny…
– you don’t have to say, “I hope so!” “- you can say; “I know so!”
The W. Confess. says that we know this not by guesswork or by some supernatural revelation.
We can be sure – not because we hear the audible voice of God in our ear.
Instead our assurance is based on three things:
a) First there are God’s promises. And those promises are utterly reliable because God cannot lie.
So if he promises me that if I believe in Jesus I will be saved, then why should I doubt that?
b) Second, there is the inner evidence in our lives. Evidence such as the Fruit of the Spirit.
Or our inner desire to please God and serve Him… and that awareness adds to our assurance.
c) Thirdly there is the witness of the Holy Spirit.
Paul says that God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are God’s children.
So it is the Spirit’s special work to bring us assurance of our faith.
- In Isaiah 50, verses 7, 8 and 9 we also see some wonderful grounds for certainty.
Let’s take a look at them again as we go through them briefly.
a) In vs.7 God is called a helper… and three things flow from this truth that God is our helper.
So we can add a ‘therefore’ in front of each of the subsequent three lines of the verse.
First: Because God is my helper… therefore I will not be disgraced.
Second: Because God is my helper… therefore I can be resolute… my face set like flint.
And third, because God is my helper… therefore I will not be put to shame.
When we know God as our helper that gives great confidence.
b) In vs.8 God is the one who has vindicated the speaker and again that has implications.
We can again add a ‘therefore’ to God being our vindicator.
Therefore no one can bring charges against me.
This vindication is the language of justification… God is the justifier.
God has declared us to be “Not guilty…!” in His court. That vindicates us.
So no one has a case against me. Just let them try to bring me court if they dare.
c) In vs.9 we again have the idea of Almighty God as our helper.
And again that implies a “therefore” that ought to fill us with confidence.
.. no one can condemn me. Who can then possibly destroy me?
Actually the reverse is true… they will be the ones who will be destroyed.
They will wear themselves out by trying.
Their lives will be empty, futile and moth eaten.
- Now I need to tell you at this point who the speaker is in these verses. He’s pictured back in vs.6.
It’s He who offered His back to those who beat Him; who didn’t hide his face from mocking and spitting.
He is The Servant – and in Isaiah the Servant is ultimately the coming Lord Jesus Christ.
So the one who has this great confidence in Almighty God is The Servant, Jesus.
That may lead you to say, “Well, it’s all very nice for Him to have assurance! He was the Son of God.
What about us? What about me?
I don’t always have this confidence that God is my Helper and my Vindicator.
And yet… look what Paul does with these words – he applies them to us in Rom.8:33,34.
”If God is for us who can be against us?” If God sent Jesus to vindicate us who will condemn us?
So ultimately our assurance rests in God’s character and in what He has done for us in Jesus.
God who is reliable and who gives us the gospel promise will never leave us in uncertainty.
I want to conclude with a quote from Steve Brown in a booklet: Doubt and Assurance (ed. RC Sproul)
He says:
The nature of the God of the universe is not to bring you to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,
then to make you wonder for the rest of your life
whether or not you have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
God does not say, “Trust me,”
then for the rest of your life make you wonder if you really trust Him.
Let’s just learn more and more to simply to believe the gospel and take God at His Word.
Amen