August 12, 2022
This week we have a guest post from Pastor Christian Brewer. . .
In my sermon this past Sunday evening, I made the unfortunate faux pas of making a claim and then failing to back it up. I stated that the question of Christian freedom will affect our own understanding and experience of personal assurance and perseverance. However, I then went on to skip the section of my sermon in which I explained that claim, as I was running low on time. To correct that little blunder, I wanted to put my thoughts in writing for you. But first let me quickly recap the sermon. In 2 Peter 2:17-22, as Peter continues to address the issue of false teachers, he makes some points which raise two questions for the person sitting in the pew.
First, Peter notes that these false teachers were giving promise of full freedom, full license, to the Christian, but only enslaving them – which should cause us to ask, “What is true Christian freedom?” Or, how does the “promise of freedom” given by the false teachers differ from the true Scriptural teaching of freedom (Galatians 5:1). Second, Peter describes the false teachers as those who once “escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” but that they were then only “entangled in [the defilements of the world] and overcome” by them. This should lead us to ask, “What is true assurance?”
Our answer to the first question was that biblical freedom in Christ is not the ability to gratify any and all desires you might have, as these false teachers seemed to suggest, but instead was the freedom to “serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life” (Luke 1:74-75; WCF 20.3). It’s a freedom from sin and a freedom for righteousness. We freely serve the Lord and keep his commands without threat and fear of judgment.
In answering the second question, we saw that many, particularly Roman Catholics and Arminians, read vv. 20-22 as proof positive of the fact that a regenerate, born-again believer in Christ can in fact lose their salvation. However, Reformed Christians have long relied on the words of Christ in John 10:28, “I will give [my sheep] eternal life, and no one will snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” God’s people rest secure in the hands of a loving Father. The question of perseverance and assurance is not found in our own ability to grit our teeth and push through, rather it is in the promises and faithfulness of God, the one who will “surely do” all that he has sworn (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Therefore, we can see the language here as covenantal language. There are those within the visible covenant of God who will show themselves to be covenant-breakers, who were never regenerate, and thus never truly part of God’s people. However, just as there are covenant-breakers, there are also covenant-keepers, those who, in union with Christ, by the power of the Spirit, actually do all that God has required in this covenant of grace: believe and repent, with a striving after new obedience and holiness.
The covenant is where we see Christian freedom and assurance coming together. God has made a covenant with us to be our God, to redeem us, and to make us new. The Father elects, the Son pays, and the Spirit applies (rejuvenates, makes us holy), and as we grow in holiness and obedience we can grow in the assurance of our salvation. However, if there are old sins which you continue to return to, if you claim Christ as your master and yet return to your old ways of life, your assurance will naturally begin to falter. As WLC #81 says, “true believers may wait long before they obtain it; and . . . may have it weakened and intermitted, through manifold distempers, sins, temptations, and desertions.” In other words, if you are living in your former ways of life, reverting to the old master, you can be sure to walk through times of despair and uncertainty. A proper understanding of Christian freedom will naturally tie into our understanding of assurance. As you strive to live after righteousness and pursue holiness by the power of the Spirit, as you “confirm your calling and election” (2 Peter 1:10) and show yourself to be a covenant-keeper, you can be certain that Christ has saved you, and will preserve you until the end.