Full Assurance Of Salvation...

"Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble"  (2 Peter 1:10, HCSB).   


It is not presumption nor conjecture to believe one is saved eternally in real-time, it's faith and a boon to one's well-being, even justification and a motive and reason to do good.  We should be able to quote 2 Tim. 1:12 that saying, I know whom I have believed and am confident that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him day.   Assurance is paramount and enhances our sanctification and is the helmet of salvation to fight Satan and his minions.  If we lack assurance, our walk is paralyzed and we are in limbo, so to speak, meaning we are not resting in faith.  Assurance is not of the essence of faith, and not an automatic fruit, but it is commanded and our duty to know (cf. 2 Pet. 1:10), not just be idly curious about!  Assurance isn't the job description of the pastor-teacher but individual responsibility to examine their heart.  All one can do is "reassure."

Actually, some believers are congenital doubters or have little faith, but false assurance is the bigger problem (believing one is secure without biblical warrant or sanction).  Also, note that it's not some one's job description to certify your salvation--they can only give reassurance:  One must examine his own heart and the fruits of his faith, and see if they align with the Word of God and the witness of the inward Spirit (per Romans 8:16; 2 Cor. 13:5). 

We need not speculate about our destiny with God, for we can take God at His Word and at face value, standing on the promises of God; however, this implies we are not ignorant of the Word and have faith to begin with. In the final analysis, realize that we don't rest on conjecture, but certainty!

God is the great Promise Keeper and His Word "cannot be broken"; He has given us His Spirit as the earnest money or down payment on our salvation dividend.  Our destiny is in God's hands!  Believing this, we ought to rest in faith and stop trying to save ourselves by piety or religiosity.  We see salvation as a done deal (a fait accompli) with nothing we can add improvements to it, and we cannot earn, deserve, nor pay it back--it's the gift of God received through faith by grace, giving all the credit and glory to God (Soli Deo Gloria!  "Salvation is of the LORD," per Jonah 2:9). Salvation is not of us, nor of us and the LORD, but solely of the LORD.

In sum, taking a verse that you can cling to as a promise is the way to have assurance, and some call this a spiritual birth certificate, for example, a favorite of mine: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life [now], and shall not come into condemnation, but has [past tense or done deal] passed from death unto life" (John 5:24, KJV).    Soli Deo Gloria!

A Personal Invite: RSVP!

"For the grace of God has appeared with the salvation of all people" (Titus 2:11, HCSB).   

We must all realize that God's call to salvation goes out to us personally and that He cares about our welfare, lot, and future as well as about final destiny with Him.   His plan is personalized, tailored, or individualized with us in particular in mind as if only we we alive.  He knows the plans He has for us; to prosper us and not to harm us!  (Cf. Jer. 29:11).  God's best is for us, spiritually speaking.  But we must apply God's message to us personally (claiming it) and realize that He is talking to and has us in mind.  The only counsel that seems pertinent is to RSVP, because this is such wonderful news we cannot afford to lose the opportunities that are possible.

The offer has not only to do with our forgiveness from our past sins (justification), but deliverance from the power of sin and from what we are (sanctification)!  God never paints a pretty picture of our condition in solidarity with Adam, but tells it like it is--we are slaves to sin and not free before salvation and only Christ can set us free.  G. K. Chesterton said that the only doctrine that can be proved is total depravity!   In fact, the extension of our salvation is fourfold:  pardon from our sins, power over sin; purpose for living and to carry on; and peace with God, man, and ourselves (the four P's).

This means that we are not just sanitizing our life (cleaning up our act) and giving up sins, but turning our back and renouncing sin in general and it's power and influence in our lives, which entails not loving the world (cf. 1 John 2:15) nor the things of the world (the devil's delicacies which spoil our taste for the real thing); what we are doing, in reality, is salvaging our soul itself, not only staying alive but being alive in the real sense--entree into a new life from above in Christ.

For Christ "didn't come to make bad men good, but dead men alive!"  We are never more alive when we live in Christ and know His power that resides in us (the power of the resurrection per Phil. 3:10)).  When we know Jesus, we see Him in a spiritual sense at work around us, even using us for His glory.  To know Jesus, then is to be fully alive with this abundant life (cf. John 10:10) He promised, that involves our soul's participation.  We were dead in our trespasses and sins (cf. Eph. 2:1) especially to the spiritual before knowing Christ, but now we are alive spiritually and can comprehend and know spiritual things (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14).   The only healthy response is to obey ("For to obey is better than sacrifice..." per 1 Samuel 15:22)!  By faith we obey but obedience is the only test of that faith, not ecstasy or experience.  "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes" according to Bonhoeffer.

NB:  Our salvation is nearer than we realize, (cf. Rom. 13:11).   Jesus is as close as the mention of His name and we can do nothing to earn our salvation or even to keep it (cf. Jude 1)--it's all been done for us on the cross and we must just receive it as a free gift on God's terms (cf. Eph. 2:9).     Soli Deo Gloria!