Tag Archives: assurance

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Spiritual Ripples | Bible Gleanings – July 22-23, 2023

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The smooth stone skirted across the still lake, spoiling the serene sheet of water on the surface. Ripples formed where the rock entered, spreading all the way to the shore. The water was unaffected, undisturbed, and unmoved until the pebble was thrown in. And the moment the stone struck the water, it sprung to life instantly, and the ripples were proof. This is a scene I often see as I skip rocks across streams, ponds, and lakes when I am outdoors hiking or backpacking. 

This is also the scene of the lives of all saints who have received salvation from the Savior. The Scripture teaches that putting your faith in Christ is like putting a pebble into a pond—when you do, you’ll inevitably have “ripples” in your life. When God throws the rock of saving faith into your heart, transformation immediately occurs, and the ripple effects of the gospel’s power are visibly seen. Deadness, stillness, and silence become a thing of the past (Eph. 2:1; Acts 4:20). However, if there are no spiritual ripples in your life, then the stone of saving faith was never thrown in. 

James teaches this in the pillar text of his epistle: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-17). 

James’ point is sharp and sure: possession of faith is always confirmed by the expression of good works and life change. The ripples of heart-sanctification, life-transformation, and good-works-manifestation inexorably result from the stone of faith being thrown onto the heart by God. Moreover, the Bible instructs us to ensure that such spiritual ripples are present in our lives. Jesus and John the baptizer both taught that healthy trees will bear fruit (Matt. 3:8-10; 7:17-20). And Peter similarly commanded, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities [virtues and spiritual fruit] you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10). 

Dear reader, do you have ripples in your heart and life? Has the stone of saving faith created dramatic changes in the affections of your heart and the direction of your life? If so, then you may sing the words of Since Jesus Came Into My Heart with full assurance: 

“What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought

Since Jesus came into my heart!

I have light in my soul for which long I have sought,

Since Jesus came into my heart!”

— Rufus H. McDaniel (1850-1940)

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

For more devotional entries like this, check out Brandon’s latest book, Bible Gleanings Volume II, which features 100 daily devotionals gleaned from God’s word:

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Landing on Grace | Bible Gleanings – November 12-13, 2022

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He was left dangling and fearing for his life. The young man was being hazed by his college fraternity, and he was carried to a secluded spot in the woods where he was lowered by a greasy rope into an abandoned murky well. He figured his friends would fetch him after a few minutes, but he was mistaken. His bones shook as he saw that they tied their end of the rope over a bar at the top of the well, leaving him hanging in mid-air. After a half-hour of shoulder-burning torture, he let go of the slippery rope and plummeted into the well—until he planted safely on the dirt two inches beneath his feet!

Solid ground caught him when he let go, and sovereign grace is always there to catch believers in Christ when they “let go” of the rope of obedience to God. When we sin against the Lord and let go of Him, we will never plummet all the way to spiritual death (cf. John 5:24; 2 Tim. 4:18). However, that doesn’t mean the fall to His sod of steadfast love will be pleasant. When sin loosens our grip on God, we will be bruised on the way down by His loving discipline and the charitable rebuke of our faithful brethren (Heb. 3:13; 12:11). And we may fall as far as Peter did, even denying that we know Christ (Luke 22:54-62), but if we truly belong to God, we will always land on His sovereign grace. 

Christian, sometimes you will lose your way, but Christ will never lose you. He promised, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39). Sin may slick your hands and relax your hold on grace, but Christ’s nail-scarred hands will never let go of you. “I give them eternal life,” Jesus assured, “and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29).

Of course, this is not an incentive to let go of the Lord. May God forbid that we view His sustaining grace as liberty to let go! To the contrary, the Lord calls us to “continue in the faith” and continue no longer in sinful ways (cf. Romans 6:1-4; Col. 1:21-23). Instead, this heartening truth is a holy rationale to wholly rely on God’s relentless grace to catch us when we fall. Therefore, all believers in the grip of grace may exclaim with the psalmist David, “Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:10, KJV).

The words of the hymn He Will Hold Me Fast perfectly capture the believer’s assurance of sovereign grace, saying:

“When I fear my faith will fail,

Christ will hold me fast;

When the tempter would prevail,

He can hold me fast!

Refrain:

He will hold me fast,

He will hold me fast;

For my Savior loves me so,

He will hold me fast.

2 I could never keep my hold,

He must hold me fast;

For my love is often cold,

He must hold me fast.

3 I am precious in His sight,

He will hold me fast;

Those He saves are His delight,

He will hold me fast. 

4 He’ll not let my soul be lost,

Christ will hold me fast;

Bought by Him at such a cost,

He will hold me fast.”1

  1. Habershon, Ada R. “He Will Hold Me Fast.” The New National Baptist Hymnal, 2001. Hymn published in 1906.
Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

Bible Questions, Practical Helps

QUESTION: Is it a sin to doubt your salvation?

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A few years ago, a young man in our youth ministry asked me a stunning question. It was stunning because it just wasn’t a question I had prepared for. It wasn’t controversial, hotly debated, or impossible to answer – it was just different. I believe it was after our Wednesday night Bible study, and we were talking about spiritual matters when he asked me, “Is it a sin to doubt your salvation?”

He struggled with the assurance of his salvation at the time, and so he asked me if it was a sin to doubt your salvation or to have no assurance of salvation. You may have wondered about this as well. So, is it a sin to doubt your salvation, or to struggle with assurance? 

The answer: It depends. It really depends on what brought about the doubt in the first place. What places doubt into the category of being a sin is dependent on what is causing the doubt itself. In other words, to determine the sinfulness of doubt, you need to find out where the doubt is coming from. The Scripture does command and imply that we should seek out assurance of our own salvation, and to rest in that assurance (John 3:36; 5:24; 8:31-32; 10:28; Hebrews 6:4-6; 1 John 5:11-13). If we are not discovering and believing those truths, we are being blatantly ignorant of the word of God. So in that sense, it would be sinful to doubt salvation which you already have because you are failing to seek out those Scriptures which concern assurance, and then gain assurance by reading and believing them.

However, if your doubt arises from a noticeable contradiction in your Christian life—then that is a good doubt to have! That is, if you see no evidence of salvation in your life whatsoever, then that’s a logical and good doubt to have. If you are doubting whether or not you are truly saved because you see no evidence from your life of salvation, then truly your doubt is good! If there is apparently no life change, then you have great reason to doubt your salvation. Why would you believe you are healthy when your body demonstrates that you are sick? And why would you believe you are saved when your life demonstrates that you are not?

Consider what the apostle Peter says in his second letter. In the first chapter, he lists off a range of godly qualities that should be present in our lives, if we are true believers. He names things such as “self-control, godliness, brotherly affection, love,” and many others (vv. 5-7). And listen to this—Peter says that the reason we should see these godly qualities in our lives is “to make your calling and election [salvation] sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (v. 10, KJV). In light of this, I then said to the inquiring young man, “The life you’re living should be enough evidence to confirm your salvation. If you see no transformation, you never had salvation.”

Keep it in mind that sometimes true believers do backslide – true believers fall into a backslidden state time and time again, but never totally nor finally. For those that believe, they will persevere until the end, never losing their salvation (John 6:37-47; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:28-39; Eph. 1:13-14; Phil. 1:6). And just as true is the fact that believers lapse in and out of certain sins from time to time, which may cause a true believer to have doubt or lack assurance. Thankfully, God will give us grace to move forward on His path as we seek His strength and power to do just that. But if you don’t see any transformation in your life, if you see no evidence that you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), then you can be sure you have no salvation.

Assuredly, it is no such sin to doubt a salvation which you do not have – perhaps it is the Holy Spirit convicting you of what is your own reality. It is a good thing to doubt a salvation if you have no reason to believe you have it! But it is certainly sinful to doubt a salvation which you do have. If you are a true believer, your life will demonstrate that. If you are doubting, endeavor to discover the reason for your doubt. Is it personal sin causing doubt? Is it lack of time with the Lord which is causing doubt? Is it ignorance of Scripture’s teaching on assurance?