Why would Jesus not feel assured by Calvin?

God’s Gospel is the good news that God is in a good mood with you. And you see that when you look at Jesus.

But something different is being preached in churches all around us: “Check you have real faith! Only then can you know: God’s in a good mood with you!”

And this idea was taught by some theological big hitters in history. John Calvin, maybe one of the most famous theologians who ever lived, said this:

“believers are taught to examine themselves carefully and humbly, lest carnal security creep in and take the place of assurance of faith” (Institutes 3.2.11)

Well, the story Jesus tells today is a perfect illustration of this confusion.

And there’s two things this story shows us:

1) False assurance looks at yourself — no matter how you dress it up
2) True assurance looks at Jesus alone

So the first idea is: 1) False assurance looks at yourself — no matter how you dress it up

Please look at the beginning of the story, vv. 9-12:

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

Now, in some respects this Pharisee has great theology… …do you see he says “God, I thank you”: because he rightly recognises that everything he has comes as a gift from God.

But, despite believing in the God of grace: where is this Pharisee looking? He’s looking at himself… “God, I thank you that I am not like other men… I fast… I give…”

The Pharisee believes in the God of grace, BUT! He looks at himself for assurance, for confidence that God loves him.

Now, this is exactly the mistake that is being preached in so many churches today:

— Preachers rightly talk about the God of grace… …that everything we have is a gift from Him.

— But, then they tell you to look at yourself… …to check that you really are loved by him …by seeing something within yourself.

Different churches disagree about what you should look for internally:

— A Catholic church will tell you to look to see if you have works of love: because these will give you assurance God loves you.

— An evangelical or Reformed church will tell you to look to see if you have proper faith: because this will give you assurance God loves you. And this is exactly what John Calvin taught.

Now, I’ve deliberately chosen to illustrate this danger by quoting a famous dead person, because I don’t want to embarrass or talk about someone who is alive today.

One very famous evangelical preacher from last century was a man called Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Here is an introduction to a sermon he gave that is available online:

There is a great danger in assuming one is a Christian and discovering, in times of need, that they are not. Many people think they know what Christianity is, but do they? Learn the importance of examining oneself regularly, the danger of self-deception, and the marks of a true Christian…

Now, all this sounds very wise… but here is the mistake: Faith is not believing that you believe — it’s believing that Christ died for your sins.

Faith does not look at itself, it always looks away from itself at Christ.

And so, this is difference between Reformed Christians — those who follow in Calvin’s footsteps — and Lutheran Christians:

The Reformed want to avoid being the hypocrite who presumes he is chosen by God; so they stress looking at yourself, examining yourself, and testing whether your faith feels true or not. And — I get it. We’ve all met people who claim to be Christians, but are hypocrites. But, looking at yourself isn’t the solution.

Lutherans want to avoid being the hypocrite who trusts in himself — whether in your own works or your own feelings — so we stress looking at Christ, turning outward to Him, and looking at the means of grace where he gives himself to us: the Word, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper.

Any time we look at ourselves for assurance: that is false assurance …even if we look at ourselves and talk about God’s grace. …even if, like this Pharisee, our theology also has lots of good things about it.

If you say “I’m justified by Christ alone, by faith alone”… …but then look inside yourself for assurance about your faith …then you are putting your faith in faith, not in Jesus.

1) False assurance looks at yourself — no matter how you dress it up

Now, I’m going to pause, to deal with one verse in the Bible that gets widely misunderstood.

This is the verse that Calvin quotes in his works to claim that we need to examine our faith to check it’s real.

In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul says:

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realise this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Calvin says, basically: (Institutes 3.2.39) What else can this mean if not: look inside yourself to test whether you have genuine faith?

And he thinks good works are evidences of faith, so even says:

“the good works of believers are causes why the Lord does them good“ (Institutes 3.14.21)

But, that’s completely not what Paul means, nor what he says.

In vv. 1-2, Paul addresses the fact that the Corinthians had repeatedly, now for the third time, questioned whether he was a true apostle.

In vv. 3-4, Paul said that the evidence he’s a true apostle is the Gospel that he preaches.

And so now in v. 5, Paul challenges the Corinthians, saying “Examine whether what you believe is correct!”

They are to check whether they are “in the faith”… …whether their theology is correct… …whether what they believe about Jesus is what Paul preaches about Jesus.

Paul is not saying: “test whether you have true subjective feeling of faith”

He’s saying: “test whether you are in this objective faith”

Which is why, in v. 6, Paul says they can apply the same test to preachers and teachers.

The only test of faith a Christian does is to test WHAT we believe against the Bible, not HOW WELL we are believing it.

And, for some reason, in our culture today, people are deeply offended when you ask them to do exactly this.

When you ask them to test whether what they believe really is what the Bible says: I’ve really offended people this last year with the question “But, what does the Bible say?”

Genuinely: one friend told me this was just a “tactic”… …and he told me, in anger, that he wouldn’t be my friend anymore.

But, people don’t feel offended or upset, if they’re encouraged to test their strength of belief.

An American friend of mine put this so well, he said:

Ironically, what people are saying today is the opposite of Paul, they’re saying: “Don’t test my theology!!! Just test my warm, fuzzy heart that says I’m right!”

This is the false assurance of the Pharisee.

How often do you try to prove to yourself you’re a Christian and
—look at your own prayer life
—scroll down your own track record
—or go over ways you’re better than others

…and think, ‘Ok, this proves I’m really a Christian’.

That’s Pharisee-thinking. That’s false assurance.

So, don’t do it.

Don’t examine your own feelings.

It was Darth Vader who said

“Search your feelings, you know it to be true.”

It’s a great movie line — but that’s not in the Bible.

1) False assurance looks at yourself — no matter how you dress it up

So, don’t look there.

Which leads us to Jesus’ positive message in his parable:

2) True assurance looks at Jesus alone

Please look at the end of the parable, vv. 13-14

¹³ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

When this tax collector looks at himself, all he sees is sin…
…he doesn’t find assurance in himself
…he doesn’t find encouragement in his own faith
…he doesn’t find comfort in the fruits of faith in his life.

No, this tax collector uses God’s Law for the purpose it was given: as a mirror, showing the truth about himself… …so looking at God and his goodness alone for assurance.

None of us are good people, so our assurance, our confidence, can never come from looking inside ourselves.

Calvin wrote this in his commentary on Romans 8:33:

“we are all encouraged to examine our calling, so that we may become assured that we are the children of God“

But true assurance comes not from our goodness within, but God’s goodness outside of us. 1 John 3:19-20 says:

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

And it’s not just the Apostle John who says this, Calvin had misunderstood what Paul was saying in Romans.

Paul himself writes in Romans 8:16:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And how does the Spirit do that? Romans 10:17:

faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

God is in a good mood with you. Why?

It’s got nothing to do with you:
He’s not in a good mood with you because you do good things.
He’s not in a good mood with you because you have faith.

He’s in a good mood with you because of Jesus. Because of what Jesus did 2,000 years ago. God’s attitude to you, and your assurance, is objective. It’s historical. It’s done. It’s finished. It’s secure.

God loves you because he loves you.

God’s forgiven you because he decided to. And you see that when you look at Jesus.

There was a man, a thief, hanging on a cross next to Jesus. When he died… desperate to be assured God forgives him. He had no history of faith. No fruit of faith. Nothing good at all. Nothing he could look at in himself.

So he just turned, and looked at Jesus, and was immediately assured:  “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Looking at Jesus is the only way to be assured that God loves you. Because 2) True assurance looks at Jesus alone

So, Why would Jesus not feel assured by Calvin?

Well, Calvin taught that assurance, knowing God’s forgiven us, comes from looking inside ourselves at our faith. And he made this sound very theological and wise, so many, many, many preach this today.

But, 1) False assurance looks at yourself — no matter how you dress it up

Don’t be like the Pharisee and put your faith in your faith.

Rather, 2) True assurance looks at Jesus alone

You are forgiven, you are God’s child… because of Jesus, not because of you. When God’s looks at you:
— He doesn’t see your faith.
— He doesn’t see your struggles.
— He doesn’t see your doubts.

God just sees Jesus. Because Jesus stands in your place. So this week, every day, look at Him, remember Him, think of Him… …and be assured: God is in a good mood with you!