Donald S. Whitney - How Can I Be Sure Im a Christian?: What the Bible Says about Assurance of Salvation

Every book Don Whitney writes is worth the cover price. How Can I Be Sure Im a Christian? is doubly so. Christians struggling with assurance of their salvation should buy and read this book. Pastors should buy a box of them to give to doubting church members.

JASON K. ALLEN, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, author of Being a Christian

Don Whitney has given us an excellent book on a vital subject, one skillfully demonstrating the difference between assurance and presumption and showing how genuine assurance can be pursued and preserved.

JOHN BLANCHARD, international evangelist, author of Right with God

How Can I Be Sure Im a Christian? is a must-read for new and old Christians alike, since weve all struggled with doubt. Read this book and rejoice in Gods assurance!

BRENT D. GARRISON, vice president of education at CEO Forum, author of Leadership by the Book

If you have questions about your assurance or even somebody elses, you should read this book. Dr. Whitneys illustrations are superb, and his borrowings from the great theologians of the past are wise, stimulating, and well chosen. I commend his work highly.

JAMES M. BOICE, author of Foundations of the Christian Faith and Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?

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How Can I Be Sure Im a Christian? The Satisfying Certainty of Eternal Life

Copyright 1994, 2019 by Donald S. Whitney. All rights reserved.

Discussion guide copyright 2019 by Donald S. Whitney. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Tyndale House Publishers at , or call 1-800-323-9400.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-64158-184-4

ISBN 978-1-64158-186-8 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-64158-187-5 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-64158-185-1 (Apple)

Build: 2021-04-21 15:16:47 EPUB 3.0

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

JUDE 1:24-25

AND TO LAURELEN CHRISTIANA WHITNEY,

for whom we waited so long. May the Lord draw you to Himself someday and give you assurance of salvation in Christ.

C ONTEMPORARY C HRISTIANITY often makes a false dichotomy between doctrinal and practical truth as if the word doctrine meant truth that is inherently academic, ineffectual, and useless in real life. Such thinking is faulty, of course. All practical truth if it really is truth at all must be grounded in sound doctrine. And all doctrine true or false has inevitable practical consequences.

No doctrine is more immediately practical than the doctrine of assurance. In fact, questions about assurance are often what prompt new Christians to begin their studies of Bible doctrine. Perhaps you have picked up this very book because you hope to address your own doubts or confusion. If so, you have chosen a solid, biblical, readable, and altogether helpful resource for your study.

There are two extremes to be avoided in the matter of assurance. One is the error of settling for an assurance that comes too easily. This can lead to a shallow, false assurance and a fatal spiritual apathy. This false assurance is the bane of our age. At the other extreme is a chronic uncertainty that leads to a preoccupation with oneself, ones fears, and ones failings. It results in a vacillating, feeble faith. That tendency plagued the church in earlier ages, and sadly there are still whole denominations today where true, settled assurance is almost unheard of.

That God wants every believer to enjoy full assurance is clear in Scripture. The apostle John wrote an entire epistle for this very purpose: that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13). The author of Hebrews wrote, And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end (6:11) and Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (10:22).

Assurance is therefore the birthright and privilege of every true believer in Christ. Yet virtually all Christians will testify that doubts assail our assurance from time to time. Knowing how to handle such doubts, understanding the self-examination that is required (see 2 Corinthians 13:5), discerning the evidences of Christ in us, and above all focusing our faith on the promises of Scripture and the character of God those are the keys to maintaining true assurance.

Too many contemporary books on assurance treat the subject in an entirely superficial fashion. So eager are they to assure everyone that they ignore the biblical warnings against false assurance. In contrast, some older books make assurance dependent on such high standards of personal holiness that they render real certainty virtually unattainable.

In How Can I Be Sure Im a Christian?, Don Whitney manages to steer a clear and steady course between the Scylla of smug false assurance and the Charybdis of brooding fixation on doubt. He shows a thorough familiarity with the complex doctrinal issues involved, yet he explains them simply and intelligibly in a way that makes these truths instantly accessible to all Christians. Best of all, he is thoroughly biblical throughout.