ReformedEducation

Topic

Assurance and Tender Consciences

Encouragement in the gospel for Christians who doubt that they are saved, who are weighed down by sin or discouragement, or who have a very tender conscience.

Safety. Doubt and a heavy conscience are common, and the gospel is for them. If your doubts come as repeated, intrusive thoughts you cannot stop, see the OCD and Religious Scrupulosity topic. If you are depressed or in crisis, talk to your pastor or a doctor; in the U.S. you can call or text 988 at any time.

Start here

  1. The Bruised Reed · Resource
    Christ will not break a bruised reed: a Puritan classic for the discouraged.
  2. The Heart of Christ · Resource
    Christ’s tender heart in heaven toward his people in their sins and sorrows.
  3. Letters of Samuel Rutherford · Resource
    Pastoral letters of comfort in suffering and doubt; best read one at a time.
  4. Faith and Assurance · Resource
    A short article on how faith and assurance relate.
  5. Westminster Confession, chapter XVIII: Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation · Catechism
    The church’s short statement on assurance, with Scripture proofs.
  6. Larger Catechism, questions 80–81 · Catechism
    Can believers be assured, and must they always be? (Question 81: assurance is ‘not of the essence of faith’, so believers may wait long for it.)
  7. Heidelberg Catechism, question 1 · Catechism
    ‘What is your only comfort in life and death?’

Editorial suggestions from reformededucation.org. They describe and do not endorse.

All 14 resources in Assurance and Tender Consciences

Educational Resources10
The Bruised ReedBook · Richard Sibbes An exposition of Isaiah 42:3 and Matthew 12:20, ‘a bruised reed he will not break’, on Christ’s tenderness toward the spiritually weak and discouraged, in 16 short chapters. Puritan Paperbacks edition, 160 pages; first published 1630. Christian LivingBiblical CounselingChurch History Heaven on Earth: A Treatise on Christian AssuranceBook · Thomas Brooks 320-page Puritan treatise (first published 1654) on the roots, nature and fruit of assurance, with its hindrances and the difference between true assurance and false confidence, written with pastoral sensitivity. Christian LivingSystematic TheologyChurch History Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and CureBook · D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Twenty-one sermons from Westminster Chapel in London on the causes of the unhappiness many Christians experience and the cure, by a preacher who had trained as a physician. First published by Eerdmans in 1965, about 300 pages. Christian LivingBiblical CounselingPastoral Theology Faith and AssuranceArticle · Joel Beeke Tabletalk article (25 May 2013) arguing that assurance flows from faith as ‘the cream of faith’ but is not automatic, and naming three means of pursuing it: God’s covenant promises, growth in obedience and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Christian LivingSystematic Theology Loss of AssuranceArticle · Joel Beeke Tabletalk article (25 June 2016) on why Christians lose their sense of assurance (negligence, falling into sin, temptation, God withdrawing for their growth) and how it is recovered: by the same means it is first obtained, including confession and returning to God in repentance and faith, relying on Christ’s merit rather than oneself. Christian LivingSystematic Theology Assurance of Faith (teaching series)Lecture Series · Joel Beeke Eleven teaching sessions of about 23 minutes each from Ligonier: what assurance is, why people lack it, divine promises, personal evidences, the Holy Spirit’s role, and how to cultivate and renew assurance. Available as DVD, CD, digital download or through Ligonier Connect. Christian LivingSystematic Theology The Heart of ChristBook · Thomas Goodwin A 136-page Puritan Paperbacks edition of Goodwin’s most popular book, on Hebrews 4:15 and Christ’s tender affection in heaven toward his people, both in their afflictions and in their sins. Christian LivingBiblical CounselingChurch History Letters of Samuel RutherfordBook · Samuel Rutherford First published in 1664. Letters to people from nobility to ordinary parishioners on self-examination, deception, and the love of Christ known through suffering. Includes a 30-page biographical introduction, subject indices, a glossary of archaic terms and notes on the recipients. Christian LivingChurch History Precious Remedies Against Satan’s DevicesBook · Thomas Brooks 344-page Puritan Paperbacks edition. Brooks sets out Satan’s devices to entice toward sin, to discourage religious practice and to create spiritual doubt, with biblical remedies for each. Christian LivingBiblical CounselingChurch History Grace Abounding to the Chief of SinnersBook · John Bunyan 184 pages. Bunyan’s account of how he came to understand and rest in the love of God in Christ, written for his spiritual children; includes his imprisonment narrative and a continuation of his life. Christian LivingChurch History
Catechisms4
Westminster Shorter CatechismCatechism The Westminster Shorter Catechism: 107 questions and answers, with Scripture proofs from the King James Version. Westminster Larger CatechismCatechism The Westminster Larger Catechism: 196 questions and answers, with Scripture proofs from the King James Version. Westminster Confession of FaithConfession The Westminster Confession of Faith: 33 chapters, 172 numbered sections, each with its Scripture proofs from the King James Version. Heidelberg CatechismCatechism The Heidelberg Catechism: 129 questions and answers with King James Version Scripture proofs, grouped into the introduction and its three parts (misery, deliverance, thankfulness).