Assurance

  • Faith and Assurance by Joel Beeke

    FROM TABLETALK | June 2013

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  • The Devil Is Not in the Details by Kevin DeYoung

    FROM TABLETALK | May 2011

    It may have sounded prophetic at one point, but now it’s rather prosaic. Everyone knows (or is supposed to know) that individualism is bad. An emphasis on the individual — such a common theme in the West — has been blamed …Read More

  • What Is Your Only Comfort? by Kim Riddlebarger

    FROM TABLETALK | April 2008

    Of all the Reformation-era catechisms, perhaps none is as well-loved as the Heidelberg Catechism. In the opening question and answer, the personal and distinctive tone of the catechism becomes evident. “What is your only comfort in life and in death …Read More

  • The Most Frightening Words by Tom Ascol

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2008

    As Jesus draws His Sermon on the Mount to a close, He makes one of the most frightening statements to be found in Scripture. Martyn Lloyd-Jones calls His declaration the most solemn and solemnizing words ever uttered in this world …Read More

  • Almost Home by Joel Beeke

    FROM TABLETALK | December 2004

    Genuine perseverance and assurance are sorely lacking among Christians today. The fruits of perseverance and assurance — diligent use of the means of grace, perseverance in heartfelt obedience to God’s will, desire for fellowship with God, yearning for God’s …Read More

  • More Than Conquerors by R.C. Sproul

    FROM TABLETALK | December 2004

    “If you have it, you never lose it; if you lose it, you never had it.” This pithy adage gives expression to the doctrine in the church that some call the doctrine of eternal security, while others refer to it …Read More

  • “The Greatest of All Protestant Heresies”? by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2004

    Let us begin with a church history exam question. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation …Read More

  • Confidence in Christ by Chris Donato

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2004

    “Faith cannot be without a settled peace of mind, from which proceeds the bold confidence of rejoicing,” John Calvin writes in his commentary on Hebrews during the mid-sixteenth century. This point is most striking, and mostly underplayed by many exegetes …Read More

  • Perseverance of the Saints by John de Witt

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2004

    What are we to make of the stunning words of Hebrews 6:4–6 with their fearful warning against apostasy, a falling away from the faith and from the Lord? They have often been a source of puzzlement and dread …Read More

  • Fear Not by R.C. Sproul

    We are fragile mortals, given to fears of every sort. We have a built-in insecurity that no amount of whistling in the dark can mollify. We seek assurance concerning the things that frighten us the most.

    The prohibition uttered more …Read More

  • The Privilege of Assurance by Roger Nicole

    The privilege of assurance, which is secured by the work of Christ for His own and which is properly undergirded in the Reformed faith, is damaged or even destroyed in certain other theological structures.

    I. When justification by faith alone …Read More

  • True & False Assurance by John Gerstner

    Probably Romans 8:16 is the greatest assurance text in the entire Bible. It is appealed to by Reformed and Arminian evangelicals alike, though they have conflicting ideas of assurance.

    Romans 8:16 reads, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our …Read More

  • Assurance by John de Witt

    FROM TABLETALK | February 1992

    What does a pastor think about assurance? By assurance here I mean the certainty that through Jesus Christ one is a child of God: forgiven, renewed, having eternal life. I cannot speak for others, but I can give my thoughts …Read More