Crucial

Questions

No. 7

Can I Be Sure I’m Saved?

R. C. Sproul

Reformation Trust

publishing

a division of ligonier ministries • orlando, florida

Can I Be Sure I’m Saved?

© 2010 by R. C. Sproul

Published by Reformation Trust Publishing

a division of Ligonier Ministries

400 Technology Park, Lake Mary, FL 32746

www.ligonier.org

www.reformationtrust.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher, Reformation Trust Publishing. The only exception is brief quotations in published reviews.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sproul, R. C. (Robert Charles), 1939–

Can I be sure I’m saved? / R. C. Sproul.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-56769-208-2

1. Assurance (Theology) I. Title.

BT785.S67 2010

234--dc22

2010008924

Contents

One—The Struggle for Assurance

Two—Four Kinds of People

Three—False Assurance

Four—Gaining True Assurance

Five—The Source of Full Assurance

Chapter One

The Struggle for Assurance

There is a passage in the New Testament that I believe is one of the most terrifying in the Bible. It comes from the lips of Jesus at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

We tend to think of the Sermon on the Mount as a positive proclamation by our Lord. After all, it is in the Sermon on the Mount that He gives the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.… Blessed are those who mourn.… Blessed are the meek …,” and so on (Matt. 5:3–12). Because of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has a reputation as a preacher who accents the positive rather than the negative.

But we often overlook the climax of that sermon, where Jesus says:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ ” (Matt. 7:21–23)

Here Jesus gives us a preview of the last judgment. He says that people will come to Him, addressing Him by the title “Lord.” They will say to Jesus: “Lord, we did many marvelous things in Your name. We served You; we preached in Your name; we cast out demons; we did ...