HOW I CAN BE SURE OF MY SALVATION
Eight days after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples, and especially to Thomas, who had doubted Jesus’ deity. Jesus said to Thomas:
“Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither
thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and My God. Jesus
saith unto him, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet believed.” (John 20:26-29)
The Apostle John said Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which were not written in his gospel, but he said, “These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.”
Beloved, that verse was the thesis of John’s gospel – to prove Jesus was who He said He was, and that He did what He said He did, for the reason He said He did it, and that all who would believe in Him would receive the gift of eternal life.
Such was the purpose of the Epistle of 1st John as well. Again, near the end of his letter, John wrote these very encouraging words.
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye
may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:13)
In His epistle, John wrote to believers, that they might “know” they had eternal life – that they might have the absolute, unequivocal, confident, and complete assurance of their eternal salvation. In both passages, John wrote about the dual nature of a single decision.
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- The confession of one’s faith in Jesus Christ as THE Savior and Lord, i.e., believing in Him.
- The possession of one’s faith in Jesus Christ as THEIR Savior and Lord: i.e., trusting in Him, growing in their understanding of Him, and deepening their faith in Him.
The result of this process would be their understanding of the purpose of this life and the promise of eternal life. Secondly, that they might be assured of their eternal security, regardless of their actions, feelings, or thoughts, and that by continuing to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, they could be used of the Lord to draw others to see Him as their Savior as well.
There are two tests in the Scriptures whereby a person can determine the authenticity of their expressed faith in Jesus Christ.
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- There is an objective test, which asks, “Do I believe?”
Do you believe Jesus was who He said He was and that He did what He said He did for the reason He said He did it?
Do you believe Jesus was indeed God in the flesh?
Do you believe salvation is by grace alone, through our faith alone, and in Christ alone, plus nothing?
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- There is a subjective or experiential test of assurance which asks,” “Is my faith real?”
Are you aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit within you?
Has anyone asked you to give them the reason for the hope they see in you?
In his first epistle, John defined several marks of an authentic Christian. After evaluating yourself by these standards, ask someone else to assess your life to see how you measure up.
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- True believers walk in the light (1 John 1:6-7). The light here means both intellectual and moral truth. Ask, “Do I affirm the truths of Scripture, and desire to obey them?”
- True believers confess their sin (1:8-2:1) Confess means to agree with God about our sin. Authentic believers hate their sins, and they are quick to acknowledge them and to have them forgiven.
- True believers keep His commandments (2:3-4; 5:2-3). That does not mean we must live in sinless perfection, but it does mean our heart’s desire to know the truth and to walk in obedience before the Lord.
- True believers love the brethren (2:9-11; 3:10, 14-15; 5:2). Authentic Christians love to be among God’s people. They are careful not to forsake “the assembly” without adequate reason.
- True believers affirm sound doctrine (2:20-23; 4:2,6). Authentic Christians love God’s Word, and long to hear the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine. They will not tolerate anything less.
- True believers follow after holiness (2:29; 3:3-4, 6-9). Again, this does not mean we will never sin again; much less live in sinless perfection. Still, it does mean we will not intentionally sin, or casually participate in the immoral behaviors that the Bible characterizes as ungodly.
- True believers have the Holy Spirit (4:13; 5:10-11). Authentic believers naturally manifest the supernatural fruit of the Holy Spirit, as outlined in Galatians 5:22-23.
While the knowledge of our salvation is based on that date-specific event when we received Jesus Christ as our Savior and surrendered our lives unto His Lordship, the assurance of our salvation rests upon the reality of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives today. For it to be authentic, that initial step of faith we took confirming our faith in the Person and work of Christ must be manifested in the continual transformation of our lives each day. To walk in that blessed assurance, we must allow the Holy Spirit freedom to continue to “work out His salvation,” in our lives.
Some will ask, “Why ask what it means to be an authentic Christian? Why worry about the assurance of our salvation? Isn’t it enough to believe in Jesus Christ? If I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins and rose from the grave, isn’t that enough to get me my ‘get-out-of-hell’ card? I thought salvation was all of grace!”
Yes, salvation is free, but it wasn’t cheap! Salvation is the supernatural work of God that brings truth to those who are in bondage to the lies of Satan, light to those who are held captive in the darkness of this world, and life to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. In the split-second in which we are saved, the direction of our lives is changed from selfishness to Christ’s righteousness, and the eternal destiny of our lives is changed from hell to heaven, and there is nothing trivial or “lite” about any of that – it came to us at great cost to God the Father and God the Son.
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the
preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living, and incarnate.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
To buy into the cheap grace peddled today is not only to question God’s plan for our redemption, which He put into place before the foundation of the world, but it is also to rest the assurance of our salvation on our ability to remain worthy of His salvation. Are you willing to take that risk? Eternity is too long to be a little bit wrong!
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?
unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor 13:5)
Join us next week as we focus on “HOW I CAN BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT“?