content/06/19.md
---
pagetitle: Of the assurance of grace and salvation, part 4
date: February 19, 2020
prev_url: /westminster-daily/06/18/
prev_date: Jun 18
this_url: /westminster-daily/06/19/
short_date: "0619"
this_date: Jun 19
next_url: /westminster-daily/06/20/
next_date: Jun 20
---
#### Confession of Faith
##### Chapter 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation
True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light:[^fnref:wcf1] yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived;[^fnref:wcf2] and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair.[^fnref:wcf3]
[^fnref:wcf1]: <div class="esv"><h5>Song of Solomon 5:2-3</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p22005002.08-1">I slept, but my heart was awake.<br /> A sound! My beloved is knocking.<br /> “Open to me, my sister, my love,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my dove, my perfect one,<br /> for my head is wet with dew,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my locks with the drops of the night.”<br /> I had put off my garment;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>how could I put it on?<br /> I had bathed my feet;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>how could I soil them?</p> </div> </div><h5>Song of Solomon 5:6</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p22005006.01-2">I opened to my beloved,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>but my beloved had turned and gone.<br /> My soul failed me when he spoke.<br /> I sought him, but found him not;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I called him, but he gave no answer.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 51:8</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19051008.01-3">Let me hear joy and gladness;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>let the bones that you have broken rejoice.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 51:12</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19051012.01-4">Restore to me the joy of your salvation,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and uphold me with a willing spirit.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 51:14</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19051014.01-5">Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>O God of my salvation,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.</p> </div> </div><h5>Ephesians 4:30-31</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p49004030.01-6">And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.</p> </div><h5>Psalm 77:1-10</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19077001.20-7"><span class="chapter-num" id="v19077001-7">77:1 </span>I cry aloud to God,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>aloud to God, and he will hear me.<br /> In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my soul refuses to be comforted.<br /> When I remember God, I moan;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>when I meditate, my spirit faints. <span class="selah">Selah</span></p> <p class="line-group" id="p19077004.01-7">You hold my eyelids open;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I am so troubled that I cannot speak.<br /> I consider the days of old,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>the years long ago.<br /> I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>let me meditate in my heart.”<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Then my spirit made a diligent search:<br /> “Will the Lord spurn forever,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and never again be favorable?<br /> Has his steadfast love forever ceased?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Are his promises at an end for all time?<br /> Has God forgotten to be gracious?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” <span class="selah">Selah</span></p> <p class="line-group" id="p19077010.01-7">Then I said, “I will appeal to this,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”</p> </div> </div><h5>Matthew 26:69-72</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p40026069.04-8">Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.”</p> </div><h5>Psalm 31:22</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19031022.01-9">I had said in my alarm,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>“I am cut off from your sight.”<br /> But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy<br /> <span class="indent"></span>when I cried to you for help.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 88</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19088001.31-10"><span class="chapter-num" id="v19088001-10">88:1 </span>O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, God of my salvation;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I cry out day and night before you.<br /> Let my prayer come before you;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>incline your ear to my cry!</p> <p class="line-group" id="p19088003.01-10">For my soul is full of troubles,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and my life draws near to Sheol.<br /> I am counted among those who go down to the pit;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I am a man who has no strength,<br /> like one set loose among the dead,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>like the slain that lie in the grave,<br /> like those whom you remember no more,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>for they are cut off from your hand.<br /> You have put me in the depths of the pit,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>in the regions dark and deep.<br /> Your wrath lies heavy upon me,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and you overwhelm me with all your waves. <span class="selah">Selah</span></p> <p class="line-group" id="p19088008.01-10">You have caused my companions to shun me;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>you have made me a horror to them.<br /> I am shut in so that I cannot escape;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my eye grows dim through sorrow.<br /> Every day I call upon you, O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I spread out my hands to you.<br /> Do you work wonders for the dead?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Do the departed rise up to praise you? <span class="selah">Selah</span><br /> Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>or your faithfulness in Abaddon?<br /> Are your wonders known in the darkness,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?</p> <p class="line-group" id="p19088013.01-10">But I, O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, cry to you;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>in the morning my prayer comes before you.<br /> O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, why do you cast my soul away?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Why do you hide your face from me?<br /> Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.<br /> Your wrath has swept over me;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>your dreadful assaults destroy me.<br /> They surround me like a flood all day long;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>they close in on me together.<br /> You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my companions have become darkness.</p> </div> </div><h5>Isaiah 50:10</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p23050010.01-11">Who among you fears the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span><br /> <span class="indent"></span>and obeys the voice of his servant?<br /> Let him who walks in darkness<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and has no light<br /> trust in the name of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span><br /> <span class="indent"></span>and rely on his God. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf2]: <div class="esv"><h5>1 John 3:9</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p62003009.01-1">No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.</p> </div><h5>Luke 22:32</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p42022032.01-2"><span class="woc">but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”</span></p> </div><h5>Job 13:15</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p18013015.01-3">Though he slay me, I will hope in him;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>yet I will argue my ways to his face.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 73:15</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19073015.01-4">If I had said, “I will speak thus,”<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I would have betrayed the generation of your children.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 51:8</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19051008.01-5">Let me hear joy and gladness;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>let the bones that you have broken rejoice.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 51:12</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19051012.01-6">Restore to me the joy of your salvation,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and uphold me with a willing spirit.</p> </div> </div><h5>Isaiah 50:10</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p23050010.01-7">Who among you fears the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span><br /> <span class="indent"></span>and obeys the voice of his servant?<br /> Let him who walks in darkness<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and has no light<br /> trust in the name of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span><br /> <span class="indent"></span>and rely on his God. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf3]: <div class="esv"><h5>Micah 7:7-9</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p33007007.01-1">But as for me, I will look to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I will wait for the God of my salvation;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my God will hear me.</p> <p class="line-group" id="p33007008.01-1">Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>when I fall, I shall rise;<br /> when I sit in darkness,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> will be a light to me.<br /> I will bear the indignation of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span><br /> <span class="indent"></span>because I have sinned against him,<br /> until he pleads my cause<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and executes judgment for me.<br /> He will bring me out to the light;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I shall look upon his vindication.</p> </div> </div><h5>Jeremiah 32:40</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p24032040.01-2">I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.</p> </div><h5>Isaiah 54:7-10</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p23054007.01-3">For a brief moment I deserted you,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>but with great compassion I will gather you.<br /> In overflowing anger for a moment<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I hid my face from you,<br /> but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”<br /> <span class="indent"></span>says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, your Redeemer.</p> <p class="line-group" id="p23054009.01-3">“This is like the days of Noah to me:<br /> <span class="indent"></span>as I swore that the waters of Noah<br /> <span class="indent"></span>should no more go over the earth,<br /> so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and will not rebuke you.<br /> For the mountains may depart<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and the hills be removed,<br /> but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”<br /> <span class="indent"></span>says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, who has compassion on you.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 22:1</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19022001.20-4"><span class="chapter-num" id="v19022001-4">22:1 </span>My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 88</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19088001.31-5"><span class="chapter-num" id="v19088001-5">88:1 </span>O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, God of my salvation;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I cry out day and night before you.<br /> Let my prayer come before you;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>incline your ear to my cry!</p> <p class="line-group" id="p19088003.01-5">For my soul is full of troubles,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and my life draws near to Sheol.<br /> I am counted among those who go down to the pit;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I am a man who has no strength,<br /> like one set loose among the dead,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>like the slain that lie in the grave,<br /> like those whom you remember no more,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>for they are cut off from your hand.<br /> You have put me in the depths of the pit,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>in the regions dark and deep.<br /> Your wrath lies heavy upon me,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and you overwhelm me with all your waves. <span class="selah">Selah</span></p> <p class="line-group" id="p19088008.01-5">You have caused my companions to shun me;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>you have made me a horror to them.<br /> I am shut in so that I cannot escape;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my eye grows dim through sorrow.<br /> Every day I call upon you, O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I spread out my hands to you.<br /> Do you work wonders for the dead?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Do the departed rise up to praise you? <span class="selah">Selah</span><br /> Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>or your faithfulness in Abaddon?<br /> Are your wonders known in the darkness,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?</p> <p class="line-group" id="p19088013.01-5">But I, O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, cry to you;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>in the morning my prayer comes before you.<br /> O <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, why do you cast my soul away?<br /> <span class="indent"></span>Why do you hide your face from me?<br /> Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.<br /> Your wrath has swept over me;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>your dreadful assaults destroy me.<br /> They surround me like a flood all day long;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>they close in on me together.<br /> You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>my companions have become darkness. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div> </div>