First look at the new book!
A first look!
For some time now, I’ve been teasing a book about the Christian’s assurance of salvation. I’m happy to announce that it is very much in progress, with the designer working away on the final cover and chapters undergoing the revision process.
That being the case, I’m now ready to share the Intro, with more chapters to come soon!
Introduction
It’s Thanksgiving Day, and you are 10 years old. You wake up and emerge from your room to smell a delicious feast being prepared—turkey, rolls, potatoes, pecan pie, and all the rest. The parade is on TV, with football up next. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins will soon be arriving for the biggest family day of the year. The only problem is… you aren’t sure you belong.
For some reason, you are constantly questioning whether you are part of the family. Maybe it’s some trouble you got in that made you wonder if Mom and Dad still love you. Maybe it’s a feeling of inadequacy compared to your siblings’ character and accomplishments. Maybe somebody in the family made you feel unwanted and unwelcome. So, you sit at the table and quietly eat your turkey, wondering if you really belong there with everyone else.
To add to the stress, Christmas is coming up next month, and Christmas is a BIG deal in this family—but only if you’re in the family. If you’re not sure if Mom and Dad really care about you, Christmas anticipation gets replaced with Christmas anxiety. “Maybe I won’t get any presents,” the intrusive thought creeps in.
What a sad scenario, right? No kid should have to feel such uncertainty about belonging in his own family. And any parents should be ashamed of themselves if they act in such a way that their child has to worry that he is unwanted. Any older sibling or cousin who plants such thoughts in a young one’s mind should be strongly chastised. How could they be so unloving? Who would even want to belong to such a family when that belonging is so uncertain?
And yet, many Christians feel exactly like the 10-year-old when it comes to being part of God’s family. They look around during the family meal each Sunday and wonder if they’re worthy to participate in it. They feel a disconnect from their brothers and sisters and question if they really belong in the family at all. In many cases, they believe God operates like the parents in the parable above, offering little reassurance about our right to be there or our future glory: Maybe you’ll get Christmas presents—er, eternal life—and maybe you won’t. We’ll see.
This is not how God meant for it to be.
There are no halfway members of God’s family, and He is not the kind of Father who wants us to question whether He loves us and has adopted us as His own. He does not want His people to go through life wondering if they are His people. Rather, He wants us to know it right away so that we can go forward boldly for Him rather than constantly questioning where we stand.
To be clear, this is not a criticism of anyone who has such doubts about their standing as a saved child of God. It’s not as though they want to view God as a distant parent; they just haven’t ever learned to see Him any other way. And it’s not that they don’t believe the Bible. They’re just not sure about how it pertains to them, or what the terms and conditions are for their salvation. For instance:
They believe John 8:36, that who the Son makes free is free indeed… they’re just not sure if He’s made them free.
They believe Romans 8:1, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… they’re just not sure if they’re in Christ Jesus.
They believe Ephesians 2:8, that grace saves through faith… but they’re still worried about how much grace can cover.
They believe Colossians 2:13, that Jesus made Christians alive together with Him and forgave their transgressions… they’re just not sure how far that forgiveness extends.
They believe 1 Peter 2:9, that Christians are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s special people… they’re just not sure if they’re truly Christians.
They believe 1 Peter 3:21, that baptism saves by being an appeal to God for a clean conscience… they’re just not sure how long the cleansing lasts after the water dries.
It’s not a matter of believing so much as it is a matter of understanding.
And, in their defense, there are many valid questions in the discussion on assurance. Examples would include the issue of false assurance, the question of whether or not we can lose our salvation, and the parameters for how far a person can go before they do. And it’s issues like these that help give rise to those doubts. However, remember that God is not that cruel parent who has left us guessing. We can find answers to these questions in the Word and thereby receive the assurance God intended for us to have.
That’s why I wrote this book. I am passionate about helping Christians overcome doubt and truly understand the love of God. Maybe you are that person who feels like the 10-year-old at Thanksgiving, so unsure of your place. If so, I hope this book can give you the assurance God truly wants you to have.
Or perhaps you’re someone who feels perfectly assured of your standing with God… but only because you’ve checked all the right boxes and done all the good works. If that’s you, I hope this book will help you reach a deeper, fuller assurance, one that comes from Christ’s work and not your own.
Finally, you might be someone who feels content and safe within God’s grace. For you, I hope this book can renew your zeal to praise God for what He’s done for us and can encourage you to help your fellow Christians feel God’s love and security.
The better we understand our assurance in Christ, the better we understand our God and His love. What could be more important than that?
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
While this post for the Intro is unlocked, after this the chapter previews will only be available to supporting subscribers ahead of the book’s release.
So, it’s as good a time as any to become a supporting subscriber!
All paying subscribers will get chapter sneak peeks, meaning they will have access to the book’s entire text by publication time.
Annual subscribers will get a complimentary eBook when the book is completed.
Founding members will get a complimentary paper copy!
Besides being a supporting reader, the other way you can help with this book is by telling others about it! Every Christian can use a reminder of God’s love and saving grace, and I’m finding that most Christians have someone near and dear to them who desperately needs the peace of Biblical assurance.
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Being reared in a Lutheran home and parochial school (never studying the Bible, not even one chapter), I had an understanding of grace and confidence that we were saved. At age 26, I became acquainted with the Lord's church and within months, I was taught(?) by one of the most well known preachers in Ft Worth. He was in his 80s. It was a one shot deal using film strip #3 of the Jule Miller series. Essentially I was scared into the baptistery -- not converted to follow/ submit to Jesus' and His covenant. Covenant? Huh?
At age 28, I was truly converted after hearing a sermon on faith and genuine repentance. I knew I was lost. Three days later, I was baptized into Christ and had full assurance of my salvation. The real problem is across the board.
The church is not teaching adequately to make disciples. We rush folks into the baptistery using Acts 2:38. But where is the emphasis on true faith, that repentance begins with changing one's faith (Mk 1:15) from whatever to a deep trust in Jesus and commitment to follow Him? Counting the cost? Folks who teach (?) hardly know Acts 2:40, 42!! Peter must have been inundated with questions -- all day. His sermon began at 9 a.m. It is reasonable that all 12 were busy all day answering folks questions who had been deeply steeped in 1400 years of the law and Jewish tradition, being taught that their relationship with God, hence salvation rested in their Abrahamic lineage. Truly a radical conversion. Have we taught that this baptism must be an agreement to live under new New Covenant? A covenant sealed in Jesus' blood?
The first time that I knew we were not very good in our making disciples was in 1977 or 78 when I had been a Christian just three years. I knew something was wrong with our approach is when a man came off the street two Sundays in a row and responded to the invitation. The tradition question was asked “ Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God.” The preacher asked me to study with him. I decided to begin with the Jule Miller series. About six weeks into the study, after film #3, the man said, I wasn’t baptized for the remission of my sins. I thought there was magic in the water that would take away flashbacks from taking LSD years earlier.
The sloppiness of our teaching has been related to me over the past 10 years by a young convert who lived in Oklahoma and Texas. I was shocked by what he learned in the various congregations with whom he was associated after his baptism and return to the south and he has even run off from three congregations.
His father was baptized, a third time, finally being converted to Christ. He called me the next day and in part said, the teacher in his teenage son's class asked what washed away our sin? 10 out of 11 said, "The water!" This man was reared in a congregation of the Church of Christ and had been baptized at age 19 to make an impression on a girl in the congregation. The preacher was foolish, yea irresponsible, to have done that because he was aware of the man's real purpose. Then at age 30, by his own admission to me, he said he was baptized to get his marriage off to the right start. Now three years ago, he was baptized into Christ at age 52. The most important decision a person will make and we are abysmally irresponsible in teaching. Frankly, it seems to me after 50 years of observation, that many, if not most have observed the the tradition and never plumbed the depths of the Bible to see the meaning of "covenant" and what Jesus meant when he instituted the Lord's supper, " For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Mt 26:28).
Further, we are abysmally negligent in one-on-one teaching, obeying Jesus' final admonition to His apostles --"teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..." (Mt 28:20). We are assured the apostles did some of that even on Pentecost (Acts 2:42-43). It has been my practice for about 20 years to study one-on-one with new Christians (or any who have planted themselves in the pew) at least one hour a week (preferably two hours in one sitting) to at least study Acts, Hebrews, Galatians & 1 Corinthians. Yes it takes years. The young man who was baptized here 10 years ago at age 25 agreed to study with me for the rest of my life or until I can no longer do so. We have studied in depth those books and are now going through the OT Genesis to 2 Samuel so far -- nearly 900 hours. Even his elders task him with the difficult teaching. He has been there a year and has baptized five who thought they were saved but were not. One had just graduated from preachers school. In the previous congregation, one convert, who had been baptized at age 19, being intimidated by her aunt, was baptized into Christ at 89. She had been a preachers wife for 40 years before he died. The so-called elders could not even show from the scriptures how to become a Christian. They tired of his appealing to God's word and ran him off. They now have a denominational preacher.
The assurance that one is saved begins with making sure we teach the non-convert thoroughly. Pray for my longevity, that I can fulfill what the Lord puts before every preacher (2 Tim 2:2). God has answered my pray twice now. Pray for honestly and responsibly fulfilling what God has commanded "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
The assurance that one is saved must be taught in the teaching to bring that person to Christ. Why would we do any less?
The so-called Bible-belt has a loose buckle and the trousers are sagging. Satan is laughing.
Brother Wilkie How would I go about getting a copy of your new book You are saved