Tuesday, 24 March 2009
-
"Am I Really Saved?" - A Response From R. A. Torrey
by mr willow
There's a rather poignant post on Revelife by a person who is unsure about their salvation. "How do you know for certain?... What if I don't feel any 'blessed assurance'?"
I call this poignant because the doctrine of assurance of Salvation is one of the simplest and clearest, yet most profound and glorious, truths taught in Scripture. It's every believer's privilege to know for sure that they are saved. Nobody explained this more clearly and eloquently than the great 19th-century evangelist I quote from far too often around here, R. A. Torrey. Here, in Torrey's own words, is an account of how he made that doctrine clear to a young man who, it seemed, just couldn't get it:“Is Not God’s Word as Good as Mine?”
Preaching one night in Minneapolis in my own church on the text “Quench not the Spirit,” the power of God came in a wonderful way upon the audience. When I stepped down from the pulpit, I found in one of the front pews four persons kneeling in great distress of soul, two brothers and two young ladies whom they had brought with them to the meeting. These brothers came from an utterly godless family and were regarded as hard young men, but the Spirit of God had taken hold of them that night in mighty power. Three other workers spoke to three of the four who were kneeling in prayer and brought them out into the light, and I undertook to talk to the older of the men. He was in great agony of soul and listened attentively as I pointed him to the passages of the Word of God that showed how Jesus Christ had borne all his sin in His own body on the Cross, and how if he would believe in Christ, he would have pardon at once. He claimed to accept Christ but he found no peace, and left the building in great distress.
He was present again the next night, and again I talked with him. He claimed to have accepted Christ, but did not believe that his sins were pardoned. I took him to John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” and had him read it over and over again. I said to him, “Hector, who does God here say hath everlasting life?”
He said, “He that believeth on the Son.”
I said, “Do you believe on the Son?”
He said, “I do.”
I said, “What does God say?”
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
“What have you?”
“Oh, Mr. Torrey,” he cried, “won’t you pray for me?”
I said, “Yes, I will pray for you,” and again I went over it, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” I said, “Who has everlasting life?”
“He that believeth on the Son.”
“How many that believe on the Son have everlasting life?”
“Every one.”
“Have you believed on the Son?”
“I have.”
“What does God say about those who believe on the Son?” “They have everlasting life.”
“Are you sure that they that believe on the Son have everlasting life?”
“I am.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“God says so.”
“What does God say?”
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
“Do you believe on the Son?”
“I do.”
“What does God say you have?”
“Oh!” he cried, “Mr. Torrey, will you pray for me?”
I went over it and over it again but he could not seem to grasp it. At last he arose and started slowly down the aisle to leave the building. Before he started, he said, “Mr. Torrey, will you pray for me?”
I said, “ I will.”
I let him get part way down the aisle and then I called after him, “Hector, do you believe that I will pray for you?”
“Why, I know you will,” he replied.
“How do you know that I will?”
“Because you said so.”
“Is not God’s Word as good as mine?” I asked.
The truth flashed in upon his soul in a moment. He saw that while he had been ready to believe me, he had not been ready to believe God. He took God at His Word and knew he had everlasting life because God said so, and went home rejoicing in perfect assurance that he had everlasting life and that his sins were all forgiven.
(Source: Anecdotes and Illustrations, 1907)"I [Jesus] tell you the truth,
whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life
and will not be condemned;
he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24).I write these things to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God
so that you may know
that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)
-
recommend
- recs 7
-
share
-
email
- sent 1
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to revelife's Revelife Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in revelife's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: mrwillow
- Name: Mr. Willow
- About Me: I am an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual work of God's grace.
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 6 Views: 0 12377 Comments: 0 339 View all posts by mrwillow
Comments (30)
This is awesome!
This is a really good post
People don't believe that just this simple little thing can give you salvation and it has been something I have struggled with the most, simple belief in what God says in his word
Oh my gosh!!! You have no idea how much that I needed to read this. This blog really made my day. =) Words cannot express how thankful I am that you wrote this. I, like the girl who wrote the blog, had struggled off and on about the same thing, but now I won't struggle anymore. Thanks again.
Good post.
I appreciate the aim of the post, and I think assurance can (and should) be found, but overly simplistic treatment is overly simplistic imo. I'm going to go back under my bridge now.
@music_of_the_heart08@xanga - Amen!! You said exactly what I wanted to say, :)!!!
Amen!
THIS IS AN AWESOME POST AND FOLLOW-UP TO THE ONE POSTED ABOUT AM I SAVED!!!! This helped me tremendously and I'm sure many others who have often doubted their salvation!!! This is a KEEPER and I hope you leave it up for a long time for others to read! I think as Christians oftentimes we allow pride to get in our way of telling others, especially other Christians, that sometimes this issue of doubt often visits us and concerns us!! This has made me see that I'm not the only one who has ever doubted. I sure thought I must not be saved for the longest time because I would often doubt! Salvation is NOT a feeling, it stems from faith!!!!
Thank you again so much! May God bless you richly in Spirit for sharing this with us all, :)!!!
Oh, and here is another great analogy that really spoke to me this morning after I started looking around the internet regarding "assurance of salvation." How much clearer could it get with this? :)))
http://www.carm.org/christianity/devotions/assurance-salvation
"so you believe there is one God, good! Even the demons believe that, and tremble." - james 2:19
yes, God will save you, yes, we are covered by grace, but I think it's a little more than just believing.
"Not everyone who keeps saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the
kingdom of heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my
Father in heaven." Matthew 7:21
While I certainly think this is a really uplifting story and I respect Torrey, I have to agree with @stuartandabby, and I would love to know the rest of the story. Was the evidence of this man's belief borne out in his daily life? Along with our assurance of salvation, there will be external evidence of that salvation. The Bible talks about that, too. I put a few Scriptures on this in my comment under the original post.
From this account and others like it, it sounds like when we hear the starter pistol, we don't have to run or strive for the prize; we can go take it easy and count on getting the gold medal anyhow.
If that were the case, I'm interested in why Jesus would say the following things to the community of believers in Laodicea: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." and in contrast -- to the same group of people -- "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." - Revelation 3:15-16, 21
Like Francis Chan mentioned in a sermon (and this is a massive prarphrase), it's really crazy to argue about whether "vomit you out of my mouth" means one can lose his salvation. So what?? Does "vomit" sound like something you'd want God to do where you're concerned?
We must be reminded that salvation is the complete and total work of the Holy Spirit. Our salvation is never based on our "decision" to believe. We cannot believe apart from faith and faith cannot be found within us. It can only come from God. We are assured of our salvation by the Holy Spirit that bears witness within us and the outward signs (fruit) that we bear as we grow into the likeness of Christ.
@Laudio - If that were the case, I'm interested in why Jesus would say the following things to the community of believers in Laodicea: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." and in contrast -- to the same group of people -- "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." - Revelation 3:15-16, 21
When a sacrifice was made in the old testament, the one bringing the sacrifice was never examined because the sacrifice was made to atone for sin. If the person giving the sacrifice was examined then it would defeat the purpose.
The term 'lukewarm' in Revelation 3 is a metaphor and the word is only used there and you can't find it anywhere else in the New Testament and trying to use an unclear passage to interpret the clear verses like John 3:16, John 5:24 is counterproductive.
I have been working on interpreting it for a while from the passage but this is what I have for you:
John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
If you believe on Jesus, you will be refreshing and not 'Lukewarm'.
In terms of Justification by faith, what does this verse mean:
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Because I can't save myself, I don't say "I am rich..and have need of nothing." I need Jesus to save me because I can't do it myself.
If you believe on Him, you will have rivers of living water and if you don't believe on Him then you won't be refreshing and may be 'lukewarm'.
How do we overcome? By the blood of the lamb and by our testimony in Jesus.
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
If we confess Him then He will confess us:
Matthew 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
If you were looking at lukewarmness in terms of works, you would have to answer why we can have our works burned up and still be saved by fire:
1 Cor. 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
@Laudio - @the_meadow_kite@xanga - You do raise a good point that good works are a component of genuine salvation--"I will show you my faith by my works," as James puts it. However, I hope we can agree that, biblically speaking, good works are the result, not the cause, of salvation. Compare Ephesians 2:8-10:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
In other words, to use Jesus' analogy, once we are abiding in the vine, we will bring forth "fruit" naturally. But only trust (faith) in Jesus will get us into the vine in the first place. When Jesus was asked, "What must we do to do the works God requires?", His response was simple: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29).
Again, you do have good points; I just wouldn't want them to confuse anyone who may be struggling with the issues of salvation and assurance. The Gospel is clear: "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned." (John 5:24)
That's a very good story. I wonder if the man had any idea what it meant to believe.
Argh!! The site just ate my reply.
Just wanted to say that there's not much of a reason to debate this on my end or argue further. I don't disagree with very much of what @Sosthenes said in his reply. The parts that I don't necessarily agree with are what I'd call non-essentials.
Appreciate the response. I hope we'd agree that the Holy Spirit will bear evidence in our lives that we actually believe in Christ.
And @FKIProfessor hits the nail on the head. We may all be meaning different things when we say "believe" in our comments.
Belief takes action! What action? Read acts chapter 2 to find out. There is no other way to be saved without action.
@FKIProfessor@xanga - Considering that he had R. A. Torrey personally explaining the Gospel to him, I'd say it's a very safe guess that he came away with a good idea of what it was all about.
For several of Torrey's evangelistic sermons, check out this link.
@Laudio - You're welcome!
And I'll be remembering your line about vomit for quite a while myself.
@Laudio -
And @FKIProfessor hits the nail on the head. We may all be meaning different things when we say "believe" in our comments.
Laudio, The word "believe" is the word "commit" in John 2:24.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
If you were to sin "on" a chair, would the chair hold you up? If you believe "on" Jesus' name, will He keep you from hell?
Rev. 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
When we say we're rich and we don't need Jesus' efforts on the cross then we're saying that we can either earn salvation through works or merit but Romans 11:6 says that if salvation is of works then it is no longer grace and Ephesians 2:8-9 says that salvation is grace through faith. If you are trusting "on" works instead of Christ, your works won't hold you up because Romans 3:23 says we already fall short of God's glory and I remember looking it up and it is talking about continual action that we keep on falling short.
Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then [is it] no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if [it be] of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work
I agree that we are saved by grace alone.
Titus 3:5 (English Standard Version)but it is also very clear that someone who is saved, is transformed and becomes a new creature. It's all grace. God gives us a helper, the Holy spirit. And true salvation always results in a transformed heart. and a gradual growth of fruit in ones life. Again its all possible only because of what Christ has done on the cross. but there are evidences of a someone who is truly saved. You must be born again. check out 1 John to see if you really are saved.Otherwise, repent and go to the cross. believe on the Lord, and you shall be saved.
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit
That was an awesome post! Thanks so much for sharing that with us!
any comments about Titus 3:5?
This is good stuff. Surely, the fruit of the spirit (actions, etc) is evidence of the inner change, but one can always "act" spiritual and not have inner change. In the end, God and you will only know if you believe... I don't think it's super-complicated. Kids believe... and Jesus said you must approach God like a child. Surely, I can believe in God as a child can. Believe as truth, I mean...not "make-believe."