The Heresy of Self-Righteous Assurance

    When I speak of self-righteous assurance, I am talking about assurance based upon the presumption of personal holiness. At present, I have neither the time nor the desire to quote the reformed confessions fully; but both the Westminster and the 1689 confessions of faith state that the assurance of salvation is something to be attained by personal obedience and lost by disobedience, attained by doing those things that are pleasing to God and lost by grieving the Holy Spirit, attained by a satisfactory examination of one’s heart or lost by an unsatisfactory examination.

    That certainly was not the case with the apostle Peter when he said, “Lord, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.” David’s assurance was not based upon his personal holiness, but upon the naked Word of God (Ps. 32; 51; Rom. 4:8). Biblical assurance is the assurance of faith, not of evidences (Heb. 10:22; 11:1; 1 John 5:9-13).

    Hebrews 10:22 "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil .5 Son of God hath not life. (13) These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

    True believers seek with all their hearts to honor Christ in all things. Those who are born of God, being taught of God, deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. They seek to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world, being motivated not by law, a fear of punishment, or a promise of reward, but by the fact that we are debtors to mercy alone.

    Being honest people, God’s saints could never claim the peace of assurance because of their own personal holiness. We recognize that our best holiness before God is nothing but filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). Our best love is indifference! Our best faith is full of unbelief! Our holiest thoughts are filled with the nauseous corruption of sin! Such things cannot give us assurance.

    The assurance of faith is not assurance based upon personal righteousness, but assurance based upon imputed righteousness. We come to the holy Lord God continually as empty-handed sinners trusting Christ alone as our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. Like David and Peter, our assurance is based not upon what we have done, but upon what Christ has done for us.