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Bible Verses On Assurance Of Salvation

How To Be Sure Of Your Salvation

The Christians Assurance of Salvation

By Steven J. Lawson Topics: Salvation

According to the Bible, assurance of salvation rests on four unshakable pillars.

After I said I was writing a book about how we can be sure we are going to heaven, she marveled, You mean you can know that you are going to heaven?

Realizing God had opened a door for me to tell her about Christ, I reinforced that we can know for certain our eternal destiny, saying, We can afford to be wrong about going to Sisters, Oregon, but not about going to heaven.

The truth is, we can be sure about where we will spend eternity. We can know with certainty that when we die, we will go to heaven. But how can we be sure? Many people struggle with the certainty of their salvation, especially new believers.

How can we know where we stand with God? The Bible teaches that the assurance of salvation rests securely upon four unshakable pillars:

Assurance Of Salvation Is Based On Christs Person

When Paul told the Philippians that he was confident that He who began the good work in you will see it through until the Day of Christ, he was affirming that salvation is not only of God but in Christ.

Gods Covenant of Grace is the sacred bond in blood that what God requires, God provides in the Person of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

1. Jesus Christ is your righteousness.

The sinner needs an alien righteousness, as Martin Luther put it so memorably a perfect life lived on her behalf. Jesus Christ is your righteousness.

2. Jesus Christ is your substitute.

The sinner needs a substitute to take the punishment for sin that is embedded in the cosmic code of divine justice . Jesus Christ is your substitute.

3. Jesus Christ is your Advocate and High Priest.

The sinner must have an advocate with the Father, a High Priest who represents the sinner, and makes atonement continually on his behalf. Jesus Christ is your Advocate and High Priest.

If God began the good work in you, then the only way for you to lose the salvation which God has won for you is to send the time machine into fast forward reverse: Christ would have to come down from His Ascension Christ would have to go back to the tomb Christ would have to be swept back on the cruel cross, where the nails would have to go back in to his hands and feet. Yes, it is ludicrous. Christ died for our sins once and for all. He will not go back on His own word and He will not reverse the sacrificial work of His Son.

Salvation Is Found In No One Else For There Is No Other Name Under Heaven Given To Mankind By Which We Must Be Saved Acts : 12

This verse says it loud and clear: Jesus is the only one who can grant us salvation. Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ. Throughout the scriptures, Jesus name is powerful and carries much weight. It is no different today. As Philippians 2:10 says, at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.

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Assurance Of Salvation Bible Verse #: 2 Timothy : 78

2 Timothy 4:7,8

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

You Can Have the Assurance of Salvation in Spite of Your Past

This assurance of salvation Bible verse is among the last of Pauls writings.

Think about what led Paul to this point in his life.

  • He grew up as a Pharisee brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today .
  • Later in life, he said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day .
  • All through His life, he thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth .

Before he became the apostle Paul, he was known as Saul of Tarsus. Saul believed that Jesus and His disciples were rebels against the laws of Moses and thus against God. He set out to destroy the cause of Christ.

He said that this I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities .

For If While We Were Gods Enemies We Were Reconciled To Him Through The Death Of His Son How Much More Having Been Reconciled Shall We Be Saved Through His Life Romans : 10

Pin on KJV Bible verses

I dont think we often realize that before we are saved by Jesus, we are actually standing as enemies of God. Since we rebel against God through sin, we make ourselves enemies of God because God is against sin. Yet, through the blood of Christ and His sacrifice, we have been reconciled back to God and God now invited us to His table. We are former enemies turned into sons and daughters.

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Two Basic Means Of Personal Assurance

I. Experience indicators what maybe true of us.

A. What we love, 1 John 2:15. I am told that if I love the world, the love of the Father is not in me. An indicator of personal salvation can be what I love. Certainly things related to the world-system will not be a controlling factor in my life.

B. Those we love, 1 John 3:14. This tells us we know we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. My joy will relate to my fellowship with believers.

C. The general tenor of my life concerning practicing obedience is an indicator. 2 Corinthians 5:17 1 John 2:3. Salvation with commitment to the Lordship of Christ will bring a change in the life of the individual. Obedience becomes a reality.

D. The witness of the Spirit, Romans 8:16-17. Witness is born by the Holy Spirit with my spirit that I am a child of God. Its like Im standing in Jesus shoes and Hes standing in mine.

E. Scripture takes on new meaning, 1 Corinthians 2:14-15. I now seem to understand Scripture and it speaks to me. I am developing a love for it.

It must be remembered that each of these is only an indicator .

II. The Scripture itself is the ultimate basis of assurance. God is faithful to His Word. Psalm 119:89 says,

Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.

With this assurance and trust in the written Word, see 1 John 5:10-13 John 5:24 John 6:37, you can reason your way to assurance. The following are crucial in the use of these verses:

For God So Loved The World That He Gave His One And Only Son That Whoever Believes In Him Shall Not Perish But Have Eternal Life John : 16

The fact that Jesus came to the earth in the form of a man and died a sinners death is a bigger deal than we often treat it. As Isaiah 53:5 says, He died an awful death and was treated awfully just to save you and me. Yet this was all out of Gods love for us. Jesus came and did these things so that we can find salvation and eternal life in Him and His sacrifice.

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Temptation Is Not Sin Yielding To Temptation Is

With that background, Paul exhorted believers not to make the same choices the Israelites madenot to provoke God’s discipline by willfully sinning. None of us is above God’s discipline if we engage in sin. We must look for and take “the way of escape” God provides in every situation where temptation is found . To think our temptation is unique is to believe a lie. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man” . There are no “new” temptations in life.

The apostle James argued that if temptation becomes serious, it is because we have allowed it to do so. Our own “desires” entice us away from God and desire “gives birth to sin” . God doesn’t tempt us, but He may allow temptation to enter our lives in order to give us opportunities to make obedient and mature choices.

Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, and He took the same means of escape that is available to usobedience to God’s Word . Temptation is not sin yielding to temptation is. There is always a righteous choice to be made if we are willing to seek it.

Assurance Of Salvation #: 1 John : 17

The Christians Assurance of Salvation

1 John 4:17-19

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

What Does This Passage Mean?

Lets break this verse down and try to understand exactly what we are being told.

  • It begins by saying, love has been perfected among us in this.

The word love is translated from the Greek word agape. It is the idea of wanting what is best for someone else and then acting in their best interest.

God loves us. As a result, He wants what is best for us and has acted in our best interest. He did that by sending Jesus to give His life for us and offer us the opportunity to be saved.

The word perfected carries the idea of completeness. God demonstrated that He wanted what was in our best interest by sending Jesus. How can that love reach completeness? It reaches completeness when it accomplishes what was intended.

When we are saved having accepted the offer of salvation which was made available by Jesus, then Gods love has accomplished what was intended in our lives.

This passage begins by saying that God loved us, and we accepted His love by being converted to Christ. When that happened, it resulted in something. What was the result? Keep reading the verse.

  • that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.

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Questions For Review And Discussion

1. Why is it absolutely essential to effective Christian living to know that you have eternal life? Write a statement that will give adequate reason.

2. Write out word for word what the witness of God is.

What is the absolutely crucial factor in this witness?

3. There are two kinds of indicators or ways we can know we have eternal life. What are these?

4. Write a statement about the failure of experiential indicators in our lives.

5. What effect will unconfessed sin have in the life of an individual who desires to have assurance?

6. List other things or conditions that could rob an individual of assurance.

7. What effect will backsliding have on assurance?

Pillar : Jesus Paid It All

Second, assurance rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He bore our iniquities, enduring Gods wrath, and cried out, It is finished! By this, He meant that the full atonement for all our sins-past, present and future-has been made. His work of redemption now completed, our entire sin debt is paid in full.

Just as salvation comes from believing in Christ alone, so does assurance. As we trust in Christs perfect sacrifice for our sins, the certainty of eternal life floods our hearts. No matter how great your sin, Gods grace is greater still. The Bible says, Come now, and let us reason together. Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

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Pillar : New Life In Christ

Fourth, assurance comes through the evidence of a changed life. Ultimately, assurance is confirmed within us as we see God conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. All who have been born again will see clear evidences of a new life in Christ. While we will never become perfect in this life, we will, nevertheless, experience a changed life. It is this inward transformation that provides strong confirmation of our salvation.

The book of First John details what are the vital signs of our new life in Christ. The Apostle John writes, We know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. In other words, we may be certain that we know Christ as we see within us a desired and willing obedience to Gods Word.

Likewise, John writes, other vital signs will follow: Love for other people, love for God, refusing the world, understanding biblical truth, righteous behavior, opposition from the world and answered prayer. As we see this spiritual fruit produced in our lives, we may be confident that Christ lives within us.

Here are the four sturdy pillars on which the assurance of our salvation rests. Giving full assurance of hope regarding our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, these pillars provide unshakable confidence of eternal life.

Bible Verses About Assurance Of Salvation

Pin by Alice Faye Willis on Faith

He who has the Son has the life he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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The Test Of Not Loving The World

First John 2:15 says, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. According to John, one of the characteristics of a person who is saved is that they do not love the world or the things of this world. Furthermore, 1 John 5:19 says, We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

Because believers understand the world is passing away and that the devil is the controlling force behind the world system, believers reject the world. They reject materialism, lust, the devaluing of human life, perverted views about marriage and sexuality, and other worldly philosophies and ways of life. Certainly, believers still go through progressive sanctification where they continually let go of sin and worldliness and look more like Christ. However, at salvation, there is a distinctive break in allegiance. It is not a perfect break, but it is progressive. A true believer lives for God and not the world. James 4:4 says, Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the worlds friend makes himself Gods enemy.

Are we rejecting the world and its evil ways to continue to follow God?

God Of Second Chances

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.Jonah 3:1-2

It was not uncommon in the Old Testament for the word of the Lord to come to Gods prophets again and again. It happened to Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and others. And it also happened to Jonah: The word of the Lord came to Jonah the first time and then the second time . With the other prophets, the second time meant additional prophetic utterances they were to deliver. But with Jonah, the second time was because Jonah had failed to speak Gods word the first time. Jonah was a disobedient prophet.

God commissioned Jonah to go east to Assyria, to the capital of Nineveh and deliver a message of judgment. But Jonah fled west toward Spain because he feared the Assyrians. You know the storyJonah ended up in the sea where he was swallowed by a great fish. Jonah repented and called on the Lord and was delivered. God gave him a second chance.

Dont let your past keep you from trusting God for a second chance. The God of grace loves to forgive.

Forgiveness is to be set loose from sins.G. Campbell Morgan

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Paul’s Story Of Salvation

One of the most famous examples of salvation taking place in the Bible is in the story of Paul. Prior to salvation, Pauls name was Saul and he was infamous for his persecution of the Christian faith. He would quite literally chase down Christians and give them up to torture, beatings, and death. In fact, he was there at the first martyring of Stephen in Acts 7:54-60. It says in Acts 8:1, And Saul approved of their killing him. Clearly, this was a guy who was opposed to the church and the Christian faith. Yet one day, Saul was on his way to Damascus when a light from heaven flashed around him and he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? This was Jesus appearing to him and converting him to the Christian faith. He became blind until he met with a disciple named Ananias in Damascus who restored his sight. From then on, he became one of the most devout evangelists and probably the greatest missionary in history. Pauls story is a testament to the power of salvation and how much Jesus can change you by His saving grace.

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