For many months I was myself in much doubt and confusion of thought until God by His Holy Spirit showed me through His Word the true ground of peace. That was many years ago, and as I write I find myself living over again the conflict of those days, and recalling, as though it were but yesterday, the gladness that filled my soul when I rested in Christ alone, and entered into a lasting peace with God that has known no disturbance throughout the years. The clouds may at times veil my sky. Sorrows and difficulties may try my soul. New discoveries of the corruption of my own heart may bring humiliation and repentance. But this peace with God remains unchanged, for it rests not on me, not on my frames of mind or experiences, but on the finished work of Christ and the testimony of the Word of God, of which it is written: “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”

Against the background of the sixteenth-century Reformers (with special attention to Calvin), Beeke examines the theological development of personal assurance of faith in English Puritanism and its parallel movement in the Netherlands, the Dutch Second Reformation.

In penning the following pages, I have had but one outstanding object before me: to make as plain as I possibly can just how any troubled soul may find settled peace with God. I am thinking particularly of those people who believe the Holy Scriptures to be divinely inspired, and who recognize that salvation is only to be found in Christ, but someway have missed the "peace of a perfect trust," and though earnestly desiring to know the Lord, are floundering in perplexity of mind, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, in the Slough of Despond, or like the same anxious inquirer in his earlier experience, trembling beneath the frowning cliffs of Sinai.

Clarifying the basis of Christian assurance Examining it's effect on the life of a Christian Renowned author, speaker, pastor and theologian

A practical understanding of the new covenant is important to each believer. The apostle Paul wrote an entire letter to the church at Galatia because the church was preoccupied with a mixture of the new and old covenants and he warned that this was becoming a real problem. In fact, he referred to this perversion as “another gospel” in Gal 1:6. The devil would like nothing more than to water down Christianity by addition and subtraction to rob the Christian of his joy and his freedom (Galatians 5:1). This work is intended to help believers understand the dynamics of the new covenant as Jesus taught them through John’s Gospel and other Scriptures. The transition from the old covenant to the new covenant was a real struggle for the first century church as evidenced by the first church council in Jerusalem (Acts 15). Just as the Apostle Peter had difficulty with it, this struggle continues today through many different movements which undermine the purity of the gospel of grace and cause great division within the church. Having a firm grasp of the important dynamics of the new covenant allows us to discern when the devil tries to pervert the truth and helps bring believers into the abundant life that Jesus had intended each believer to experience!

"This book is a study of the doctrine of assurance in light of the New Testament's teaching on hope"--Provided by publisher.