Assurance

The Puritans argued that faith and assurance are distinct. The first looks to Christ alone for salvation (actus fidei or act of faith) and the second is faith by which the believer knows (has confident assurance) that he has received salvation (fides reflexa or reflexive faith).

John Owen

God sometimes marvelously raiseth the souls of his saints with some close and near approaches unto them - gives them a sense of His eternal love, a taste of the embraces of His Son and the inhabitation of the Spirit, without the least intervening disturbance; and then this is their assurance. But this life is not a season to be always taking wages in; our work is not yet done; we are not always to abide in this mount; we must down again into the battle - fight again, cry again, complain again. Shall the soul be thought now to have lost its assurance? Not at all. It had before assurance with joy, triumph, and exultation; it hath it now, or may have, with wrestling, cries, tears, and supplications. And a man's assurance may be as good, as true, when he lies on the earth with a sense of sin, as when he is carried up to the third heaven with a sense of love and foretaste of glory. 

A believer that hath gotten Christ in his arms, is like one that hath found a pearl of great price. He fears every thing that may deprive him of it (fearing the world and his own waywardness.) 

Thomas Brooks  Heaven on Earth, A Serious Discourse touching a well-grounded Assurance of Men’s Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness, the Nature of Assurance, the possibility of Attaining it, the Causes, Springs, and Degrees of it; with the Resolution of severall weighty Questions

http://www.digitalpuritan.net/Digital%20Puritan%20Resources/Brooks%2C%20Thomas/Works%2C%20Vol.%20II/%5BTB%5D%20Heaven%20on%20Earth.pdf  

A well-grounded assurance is always attended with three fair handmaids: love, humility and holy joy. 

A soul under assurance is unwilling to go to heaven without company.

It is the very drift and design of the whole Scripture, to bring souls first to an acquaintance with Christ, and then to an acceptance of Christ, and then to build them up in a sweet assurance of their actual interest in Christ.  

Thomas Watson  Body of Divinity 

The heart must be ploughed up by humiliation and repentance, before God sows the seed of assurance. 

Assurance consists of a practical syllogism, in which the word of God makes the major, conscience the minor, and the Spirit of God, the conclusion.

1. The Word says, "He that fears and loves God is loved of God"; there is the major proposition

2. Then conscience make the minor, "But I fear and love God"  

3.Then the Spirit makes the conclusion, "Therefore thou art loved of God" 

And this is what the apostle calls "The witnessing of the Spirit with our spirits." Romans 8:16

Thomas Goodwin - “Christ Set Forth, And The Heart Of Christ In Heaven Towards Sinners On Earth”

(Let us) see what matter of support and encouragement faith may fetch from Christ’s death for justification. And surely that which hath long ago satisfied God himself for the sins of many thousand souls now in heaven, may very well serve to satisfy the heart and conscience of any sinner now upon earth, in any doubts in respect of the guilt of any sins that can arise. 

Get your hearts and consciences distinctly and particularly satisfied in the all-sufficiency of worth and merit which is in the satisfaction that Christ hath made.

William Gurnall  The Christian in Complete Armour                                                                                                                                               

We read in Scripture of a threefold assurance:

1. An assurance of understanding, Colossians 2:2.

2. An assurance of faith, Hebrews 10:22.

3. An assurance of hope, Hebrews 6:11.

These three make up one practical syllogism; wherein knowledge forms the proposition, faith makes the assumption, and hope draws the conclu­sion. ‘I do,’ saith the Christian, ‘assuredly know from the word, that the repenting believing sinner shall be saved; my conscience also tells me that I do unfeignedly repent and believe; therefore I do hope firmly that I shall, however un­worthy otherwise, be saved.’ 

Thy (assurance) is the mark Satan’s arrows are leveled at. If possible keep that from wounding. Or if at any time his dart reacheth it, and thy spirit begins to bleed of the wound which he hath given thee by ques­tioning ‘Can such great sins be pardoned as thou hast committed? such old festered sores as thy lusts have been can be ever cured? or afflictions that are so heavy and have continued so long can possibly be either endured or removed?’

Now labour, as for thy life, to hold up thy hope though wounded in the chariot of the promise, and bow not by despairing to let the devil trample on thy soul. 

John Newton

Assurance grows by repeated conflict, by our repeated experimental proof of the Lord's power and goodness to save; when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope, and been suddenly snatched from danger, and placed in safety; and when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply to the word and power of God, beyond and against appearances: and this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of assurance; for even assurance has degrees.

“The Present and Future Rest of True Believers” on Matthew 11:28

https://www.monergism.com/present-and-future-rest-true-believers-matthew-1128

Horatius Bonar  God's Way of Holiness

"Assurance", say some, "is impossible". "Not impossible", say others, "but very hard of attainment; not only very hard, but very long of being reached, requiring at least some thirty or forty years of prayer and good works". "Very dangerous", say others, "introducing presumption. and sure to end in apostasy".

I confess I do not see how my being thoroughly persuaded that a holy God loves me with a holy love, and has forgiven me all my sins, has a tendency to evil (even though I may have reached that conclusion quickly.)

It seems, of all truths, one of the likeliest to make me holy, to kindle love, to stimulate to good works, and to abase all pride; whereas uncertainty in this matter enfeebles me, darkens me, bewilders me, incapacitates me for service or, at the best, sets me striving to work my way into the favor of God, under the influence of a subordinate and mercenary class of motives, which can do nothing but keep me dreading and doubting all the days of my life, leaving me, perhaps, at the close, in hopeless darkness.

Octavius Winslow  Daily Walking With God

(Have) you long been pleading, as your reason for the unsettled and unhappy state of your mind, the weakness of your faith? What, I ask, is this, but the making a Savior of your faith? It was not faith that died for you—it is not faith that saves you. It is Christ, and Christ alone. Your evidences, your peace, your joy, your hope, all, all must flow from Jesus.

1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life."

Is it possible that a believer can be a subject of the quickening grace of the Holy Spirit, and not know it? Possess union with Christ, and not know it? The pardon of sin, and not know it? Communion with God, and not know it? Breathing after holiness, and not know it?

The life of God in the soul evidences itself by its actings. Are you sensible of your sinfulness? Do you love the atoning blood? Is Jesus precious to your soul? Do you delight in God, and in retirement for communion with Him? Then, for your encouragement we remind you, that these are not the actings of a soul lying in a state of moral death…They proceed from the indwelling life of God.

On Ephesians 1:13 “In whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." 

 Although it is most true that the moment a sinner believes in Jesus he becomes actually an "heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ" (Romans 8:17) and enters into the family as an adopted child, yet the clear and undoubted sense of this vast mercy may not be sealed upon his heart until after years. He may long have walked without the sweet sense of God's adopting love in his heart…and he has seldom gone to God as a kind, loving, tender, and faithful father. But now the Divine Sealer- the eternal Spirit of God- enters afresh, and impresses deeply upon his soul the unutterably sweet and abiding sense of his adoption. Oh, what an impression is then left upon his heart, when all his legal fears are calmed…and under the drawings of filial love, he approaches the throne of grace, and cries, "My Father!"

On Ephesians 4:30  “The Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

The Holy Spirit so deeply impresses on the heart a sense of pardoning love - so firmly establishing it in the faithfulness of God - the finished work of Christ - the security of the covenant - and the soul's adoption into the one family, that in the gloomiest hour, and under the most trying dispensation, there is that which keeps the soul steady to its center - Jesus. 

C.H. Spurgeon

We count it no presumption to say that we are saved, for the word of God has told us so in those places where salvation is promised to faith in Christ Jesus. The presumption would lie in doubting the word of God. 

We prize full assurance beyond all price. We count it to be a gem beyond all earthly values. We believe it to be necessary to deep joy, necessary to edification, necessary to usefulness; but necessary to salvation we do not believe it to be.

The joy and inward peace which the sincere soul hath (in assurance) makes it humble, holy, and heavenly. 

J.C. Ryle  Holiness  "Assurance"

http://www.gracegems.org/Ryle/holiness8.htm 

If any believing soul desires assurance and has not got it, let him ask himself, first of all, if he is quite sure he is sound in the faith, if his eyes are thoroughly clear in the matter of justification. He must know what it is simply to believe and to be justified by faith, before he can expect to feel assured. Happy is the man who really understands "justification by faith — without the deeds of the law." (Romans 3:28) I bless God that our salvation in no way depends on our own works. By grace we are saved — not by works of righteousness — through faith, without the deeds of the law. But I never would have any believer for a moment forget, that our sense of salvation depends much on the manner of our living. Inconsistency will dim our eyes and bring clouds between us and the sun. The sun is the same behind the clouds — but you will not be able to see its brightness or enjoy its warmth; and your soul will be gloomy and cold. It is in the path of well-doing, that the dayspring of assurance will visit you and shine down upon your heart.

The man who walks with God in Christ most closely — will generally be kept in the greatest peace.

The believer who follows the Lord most fully and aims at the highest degree of holiness — will ordinarily enjoy the most assured hope and have the clearest persuasion of his own salvation!

F.B. Meyer  "Our Glorious Standing"

There are Some who live on a sliding scale between condemnation and acceptance. If health is buoyant and the heart is full of song, they are sure of their acceptance with God; but if the sun is darkened and the clouds return; when the heart is dull and sad, they imagine that they are under the ban of God's displeasure. They forget that our standing in Christ Jesus is one thing; our appreciation and enjoyment of it quite another. Your own heart may condemn you; memory, the recorder of the soul, may summon from the past evidence against you; the great Accuser of souls may lay against you grievous and well-founded charges; your tides of feeling may ebb far down the beach; your faith may become weak and lose its power and grip; your sense of unworthiness may become increasingly oppressive—none of these things can touch your acceptance with God if you are complying with His one all-inclusive condition—"There is NOW no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

A.W. Pink “Assurance”

https://gracegems.org/Pink/assurance.htm

O dear friend, give your poor souls a fair chance, be willing to ascertain whether your faith is real wheat, or only chaff. If it proves to be the latter, there is still time for you to humble yourself before God and cry unto Him to give you saving faith.

https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eusebeia/07_015.pdf

In his exposition of Romans 8:14-16, (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones) speaks of three different levels of assurance:
1st Deductive — this is a logical inference that you are a Christian, based on observing in yourself the activities which are peculiar to a Christian (prayer, Scripture reading, love of the brethren, etc.).
2nd Elemental — that sense of sonship which spontaneously wells up in the heart of a believer whereby he cries, “Abba, Father”!
3rd The Witness of the Spirit — this “witness of the Spirit” is the same thing as the “sealing” or “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” While all Christians may have the “deductive assurance, he argues, they do not all have the “elemental” assurance or the highest peak of assurance given by the “witness of the Spirit.” In this latter experience, “the Spirit Himself comes alongside the witness of my spirit and Himself bears His witness and His testimony. The peculiar characteristic,” he asserts, is that “it is a direct and immediate witness of the Spirit Himself” that imparts great joy and an overwhelming sense of the love of God to the believer’s heart.

He argues against the traditional interpretation that Romans 8:14-16 is describing that which happens in the case of all Christians, by insisting that it is obvious that not all Christians do indeed possess this conscious, powerful and immediate awareness of the Spirit’s testimony that  they are personally God’s children.

The Sons of God: Exposition of Romans 8:5-17, verses 5-8, “The Contrast Between the Christian and Non-Christian”

Are you “after the things of the Spirit; are you spiritually minded?”

https://www.monergism.com/contrast-between-christian-and-non-christian-exposition-romans-85-17

Assurance: An Exposition of Romans 5:1-2, “Peace With God and False Peace”

https://banneroftruth.org/uk/resources/articles/2011/peace-with-god-and-false-peacesup1sup/

The man who has true peace is a man who never ceases to be amazed that he has it, amazed at the fact that he has ever been justified at all, that God has ever looked upon him and called him by his grace.

J.D. Greear  "Should We Stop Asking Jesus Into Our Hearts?"

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/julyweb-only/greear-ask-jesus-into-your-heart.html?start=1 

Assurance Resources 

https://www.monergism.com/topics/assurance