Why Do Ungodly Christians Doubt Their Salvation?

We’re back. I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year holiday. Our family had a wonderful time together in Cincinnati, OH with over 15 inches of snow. Last time we talked it was 2004, and now we’ve entered into a new year. 2005 is a great year to gain complete victory over your doubts; after all, this may be the year our blessed Lord returns for us. I want to use this issue to discuss one of the most common reasons for lacking the assurance of salvation. It can happen that a Christian gets far away from the Lord and involved in a sinful lifestyle of worldliness, carnality, and physical pleasure. When this occurs in the life of a believer, the Bible promises the result will be doubt of salvation. (II Peter 1:9)

WARNING

Let me first throw out a word of warning. In this issue we are going to express the need of self examination. Remember, it is not what we do or who we are that saves us, however, as we will see from II Peter 1, what we do and who we are reflect the evidence of true salvation. Be very careful, super-sensitive Christian, that you don’t delve so deep into self examination that you take your eyes off Christ. It will do us well to take to heart the words of Spurgeon here:

“It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, ‘Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of His children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.’ All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is ‘all in all.’ Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. Oh! Let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus.” (Morning by Morning, p. 181)

In short, “Looking unto Jesus” is the key to victory over doubt, not looking within. However, the darkness of sin creates a cloud of doubt between you and your Savior so that you cannot see Him clearly. Take heed to the words of that hymn, “Nothing between my soul and the Savior, so that His blessed face may be seen . . .” If you are living like one of Satan’s children; listening to his music, using his language, thinking his thoughts, watching his entertainment, enjoying his ungodly physical pleasures, and hanging out with his wicked children, it is no wonder that you have begun to wonder if you were ever truly “adopted” into God’s holy family. See then how sin must be dealt with for true assurance to be gained?

Often, an ungodly Christian will attend an evangelistic meeting or a week of summer camp and become deeply convicted by the Holy Ghost of specific sins in their life. Instantly, the devil says, “See, you aren’t saved after all.” What the Holy Ghost said, however, was “See, you have these sins in your life that are hindering your walk with God.” Many teens, listening to Satan’s doubts, will go forward and “accept Christ as their Savior all over again.” BUT! Guess what they never deal with? You guessed it! They never deal with sin. So they create a cycle: sinful life, conviction of Spirit, accept Christ again, sinful life . . . They never deal with the true issue which may be rebellion against their parents, disobedience, wrong music, sensual thinking, etc.

WHICH SIDE OF THE STREAM ARE YOU ON?

I need you to use your imagination with me for the next few minutes. Will you do that? Thanks! Picture two beautiful mountains separated by a large valley. One mountain is on the west side of the valley while the other is on the east side of the valley. These mountains ascend just as far as the eye can see. One even elevates up into the clouds. Can you see the flowers, the deer, the snow cap? Great! You’re there. Now, in the valley that sits between these mountains there is a tiny little stream that runs as far as your eyes can see north to south. It falls in the dead center of the valley. In the valley, there is a heavy fog that hovers between the two mountains, and the closer you get to the stream, a water source, the heavier the fog gets. Do you have the complete picture? Great, let’s fill in some details now.

Let’s assume that everyone on the east side of the stream are people who have accepted Christ as their Savior. So that, no matter what kind of a Christian you are, if you are a Christian, you are on the east side of the stream. Then, let’s assume that everyone on the west side of the stream are people who are lost and without Christ. (By the way, the only way a person can get across the stream to the east side is through faith in Christ, and once a person steps across, they can never return.) Now, let’s make the application we’re after.

The godly dedicated Christians are all up on the east mountain. They desire a closer walk with their Lord, so they are climbing every day through prayer, devotions, witnessing, and faithfulness. They are the kind of Christians who listen to conservative, Christ-honoring music, use holy language, and delight in the fellowship of other godly believers. They are anticipating the Lord to “split the eastern sky” at any moment so they are keeping their wedding garments unstained from the pleasures of the world.

Perhaps you can picture your pastor or youth pastor up there. Now let me ask you a question: do you ever wonder if they are “really saved?” You would say, “Of course not! I mean look at the way they live. Look at the way they love Jesus. Look how far up on that mountain they are! They are obviously on the east side of the stream by a mile!” Do you think they ever struggle with doubting? Probably not because from their vantage point, it’s clear, looking down, what side of the stream they are on.

On the west mountain are the most godless, wicked, perverted sinners on earth. These are the drug dealers, the pornographers, the child abusers, the sex perverts. Perhaps you can see Madonna or Marilynn Manson up there. Now, would anyone say, “I wonder if Marilynn Manson is saved or lost?” Not anyone with a brain between their ears! It’s obvious that she . . . he . . . it is on the west side of the stream; look at her . . . him . . . it way up there on that mountain.

However, the people on the west and east mountains do not constitute the majority of where most people live. You see, most people live down in the valley. The people on the west side of the stream are lost without Christ, but they’re not necessarily the worst people in the world. I mean, they go to church every now and then. Some of them are so close to the stream that they have adopted some of the same morals and terminology as the people on the east side. Some have gotten so good at imitation, that they have actually been placed in positions within the church. Some are active members in a church youth group. But, because they have never truly placed their faith in Christ, they are still on the west side of the stream.

The Christians in the valley on the east side of the stream are uncommitted, unsurrendered, worldly, carnal, and away from the Lord. They have allowed sin to fester in their life and do not enjoy close fellowship with the Lord. They don’t have daily devotions or prayer time. Church is boring and often a waste of time. Little of the Bible makes any sense to them. Don’t get me wrong, they like being saved, but they also like being close to the world. They are walking just about as close to the stream, the west side lifestyle, as they possibly can. Many of their friends are over on the west side of the stream. Some are even attempting to hold hands with a boyfriend or girlfriend on the other side. The music down in the east valley has Christian words, but it sounds almost identical to the music the people on the west valley listen to.

Remember what I said hangs over the valley? A thick fog; and the closer you get to the stream, the thicker the fog becomes. Before long, someone close to the stream stops and says, “Hey, wait a second, which side of the stream are we on anyway? Look at the way we live; just like everyone else down here. Boy, did I really mean my decision? Am I really a Christian? The people on the other side of the stream are claiming they are on the right side, and there’s so little difference between us that I’m not sure who is.” (The difference between the east mountain people and the west mountain people is astronomical, but the difference between the east valley people and the west valley people is infinitesimal.) Many Christians will go on for the rest of their life blinded by the fog of a carnal, backslidden life. They will never gain the assurance of their salvation.

Question: think with me, what would a person down in the valley need to do in order to find out which side of the stream he was on? Stay in the illustration of nature. Remember, the fog only sits in the valley. The answer is simple: if he is going to gain assurance that he is on the east side of the stream, he will need to CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN! Perhaps you are desirous to know for sure you’re saved but unwilling to leave the valley of uncertainty. You want to gain the assurance of your salvation and somehow stay down under the fog where you can listen to the world’s music, enjoy the pleasures of sexual sins, and eat at the devil’s table. In a word, IMPOSSIBLE!!! You have got to start climbing up the mountain if you are ever to gain the victory over valley doubt. In our next issue, I want you to notice seven steps it takes to get to the top of the mountain. They are all found in this wonderful passage:

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith (Notice here the foundation of these steps: faith! You cannot climb the east mountain if you are on the west side until you cross the stream!) virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (It’s only up on that mountain that we get to KNOW the Lord.) But he that lacketh these things is blind, (Can’t see through the valley fog.) and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (It was easy to forget because he is willfully living in them!) Wherefore the rather, brethren, (Rather than spending the rest of your life in the valley fog doubting your soul’s eternal destiny.) give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.”

II Peter 1:5-10

Next week . . . perhaps I should say next issue, we will look in detail at these seven steps and how God’s Word literally promises if you take them, you will never again “fall” into the valley of doubt and despair concerning your salvation. Do a little homework yourself as you look at these seven steps. Start a journal and see how far up the mountain of consecration you have climbed.

I leave you with a quick thanks to all of you who have been patient with me this last year. Thank you for tuning in to THE V.O.I.C.E. I also want to leave a quick thanks to Wayne, my brother-in-law, for all of his hard work in putting this web site together and updating it. Send me a quick note if God has used THE V.O.I.C.E. somehow in your life. See you in a bit.