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.
Assurance of salvation is not a hypothetical for the Christian, nor is it in any way doubtful. Our certainty in Christ is infallible--it cannot fail and it cannot be mistaken. The foundation upon which our assurance rests is made of many things:
1. The promises of Scripture; even more, the Promiser of Scripture. The Word of God is God's word. What he has said must surely come to pass. This is more certain than creation itself.
2. The inward evidence of God's grace. We have in our hearts a love for Christ that can be there only by the work of the Spirit. We have a regard for God's word--we hear his voice therein--only because the Spirit himself speaks to us through it. We have love for the brethren solely because Christ is in them as he is in us.
3. The testimony of the Spirit witnessing to our spirits (Romans 8) that we are sons of the Most High.
4. The Spirit himself as the seal of our redemption and the earnest of our inheritance.
By all these divine graces are we assured of our salvation.
Tomorrow: The relationship between faith and assurance.
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