Full Assurance

In penning the following pages, I have had but one outstanding object before me: to make as plain as I possibly can just how any troubled soul may find settled peace with God. I am thinking particularly of those people who believe the Holy Scriptures to be divinely inspired, and who recognize that salvation is only to be found in Christ, but someway have missed the "peace of a perfect trust," and though earnestly desiring to know the Lord, are floundering in perplexity of mind, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, in the Slough of Despond, or like the same anxious inquirer in his earlier experience, trembling beneath the frowning cliffs of Sinai.

Against the background of the sixteenth-century Reformers (with special attention to Calvin), Beeke examines the theological development of personal assurance of faith in English Puritanism and its parallel movement in the Netherlands, the Dutch Second Reformation.

This is a very helpful book for professing Christians who struggle for “assurance” of salvation. The author’s own words describes it contents perfectly: “In writing the following pages, I have had but one outstanding object before me—to make as plain as I possibly can just how any troubled soul may find settled peace with God. I am thinking particularly of those people who believe the Holy Scriptures to be divinely inspired, and who recognize that salvation is only to be found in Christ, but somehow have missed the “peace of a perfect trust,” and though earnestly desiring to know the LORD, are floundering in per-plexity of mind.” May all who read this discover that through Christ’s finished work we can have full assurance of sins forgiven and a home in heaven!

A practical understanding of the new covenant is important to each believer. The apostle Paul wrote an entire letter to the church at Galatia because the church was preoccupied with a mixture of the new and old covenants and he warned that this was becoming a real problem. In fact, he referred to this perversion as “another gospel” in Gal 1:6. The devil would like nothing more than to water down Christianity by addition and subtraction to rob the Christian of his joy and his freedom (Galatians 5:1). This work is intended to help believers understand the dynamics of the new covenant as Jesus taught them through John’s Gospel and other Scriptures. The transition from the old covenant to the new covenant was a real struggle for the first century church as evidenced by the first church council in Jerusalem (Acts 15). Just as the Apostle Peter had difficulty with it, this struggle continues today through many different movements which undermine the purity of the gospel of grace and cause great division within the church. Having a firm grasp of the important dynamics of the new covenant allows us to discern when the devil tries to pervert the truth and helps bring believers into the abundant life that Jesus had intended each believer to experience!

Walking with the Full Assurance of Understanding has been written to provide Christians who are serious about their faith what Paul called: "the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding." In its pages readers will find the central truths, logic, and promise of Christianity necessary for a confident, stable, and fruitful walk with God. No one knew better than John Wesley that it is one thing to know Scripture, quite another to understand it. Even as a missionary to Georgia, well-schooled in the faith by a clergyman father, a devout mother, and his studies at Oxford, Wesley remained unaware of the full meaning of Scripture. It was understanding that unlocked the power of God's work in his life. Given the multitude of negative influences both from secular culture and within the Christian community, there has never been a greater need to avoid the false teachings of philosophy, popular but mistaken beliefs, and poor assumptions. The information and insights presented here will enable twenty-first-century Christians to avoid being "carried about by every wind of doctrine" by understanding the treasure they have in God, Jesus Christ, and the Scriptures.