Conversing with Satan

I didn't want to even give the enemy the dignity of using his image, even in clip-art. So here's a nice one of a woman conversing with Christ instead.
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Here is a great quote from John Macarthur, who is in turn quoting a Puritan writer on how Christians will often fall into the trap of questioning their salvation and even God's love for them. Taken from a phenomenal sermon on the doctrine of assurance, which you can read here. It is from a three-part series in which Macarthur examines reasons people lack assurance, reasons for false assurance, and why a biblical assurance of being eternally in Christ is not "the sin of presumption".

Here is the excerpt:

"The heart of a person with a strong compelling conscience, the heart of a person with a strong understanding of holiness, righteousness and the law of God, the heart of a person who understands justice may find it difficult to accept forgiveness. By the way, may I suggest to you as a footnote that people who feel that way have willingly crowned the devil king. That's right. You have crowned the devil king because the devil is the accuser of whom? The brethren. The devil speaks of guilt. He speaks of violation of a holy standard. He speaks of violation of the law of God. He speaks of justice and he will tell you you're too bad to be forgiven, you belong to me. And if you buy it you crown him king and you say guilt rules, condemnation rules, sin rules. Christ is not king. Grace does not rule. Mercy does not rule. Forgiveness does not rule.

Believe me, Satan wants to do this. Satan wants you to doubt your salvation, that is why you have to put on the helmet of salvation...to protect your head from the smashing crushing blows of Satan who wants you to doubt. One Puritan writer wrote this,

"Yea further, he that lacks assurance of God's love converses too much with Satan. As he that has the assurance of God's love converses with Christ, the Spirit bearing witness to him that he's a child of God, so he that lacks assurance converses with Satan and Satan, though falsely, bears witness to his spirit that he is not a child of God. And is it not a misery to be in these conversations with Satan, to be under his hellish droppings? O what a pain it is then to lie bedridden of an unbelieving heart. The devil is always following and tempting me to suspect the love of Christ and he does it that he may attain his mind upon me. For the devil knows well enough that the more I suspect Christ's love, the more I shall embrace Satan's love. The truth is, beloved, this lack of assurance of God's love or interest in Christ is an inlet to many sins and miseries, for first a man doubts of his own salvation, afterwards he has continued doubting, then he rises up until a full conclusion saying, `Now know I that Christ does not love me. I did but doubt before, but now I know He does not love me.' And after he has risen to this conclusion, then shortly he rises higher and he goes further thus, `If Christ does not love me now, He will never love me. And if I have not an interest in Christ now, after all the preaching I have heard, and ordinances I have enjoyed, I shall never have it. And so the longer I live the more I shall aggravate my condemnation,'" end quote.

If you crown Satan king and let him crush your head with the law and your guilt and justice, you will doubt...you will doubt. Both strong preaching of a high and holy standard and a refusal to accept forgiveness cause people to doubt."

In my own observation as a Bible study teacher and discipler, I have noticed that doubts about assurance seem to plague us ex-catholics more often than those who were raised with a biblical understanding of grace. Because of the Jesus + works soteriology in which we were raised, our "default mode" tends towards synergism. Understanding that good works and holiness are the result of a regenerate, born-again spirit and not the catalyst of salvation goes a long way towards transforming one's walk. Ironically, it is most-often the struggling Romans 7 Christian - a true child of God tormented by one's own sense of missing the mark - rather than the adherents of "cheap grace" that most often doubt and question their own assurance.

This is a great series that deals with both the reasons Christians doubt their election and the biblical tests and basis for assurance.