One of the things that accompanies a new babe in Christ is the absolute assurance that Jesus saves and has indeed saved him. That Jesus forgives, and has indeed forgiven him. However, through the passage of time, some slow progress, and numerous falls, some of us begin to doubt whether we were ever saved at all.
God cautions us not to become cocky or complacent in our salvation (Philippians 2:12-13). At the same time, He does not want us living on the razors edge, never really knowing where we stand. He wants us to know the rock solid security we have in Jesus Christ.
Do you doubt? Here are five marks God has given us in His word where we may find assurance of our salvation.
Christ Alone
God gives assurance of salvation to the person who is looking to Christ alone for his salvation.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13-13)
Though we must examine our own heart, our assurance does not come from looking at our own heart, or works, or sin. Our assurance comes from actually looking at Jesus. Such a man is holding fast to Christ and finds his assurance as he looks to the cross.
…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
The Presence of the Holy Spirit
God has given us the Holy Spirit, among other things, to reassure our hearts.
By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. (1 John 4:13)
How do we know we have the Spirit?
The Spirit is a gardener who grows things (Ephesians 5:9).
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… (Galatians 5:22-23)
He also puts other things to death, like sin (Romans 8:13). In other words, when God pours the Spirit into our life He becomes active and that activity is noticeable – and reassuring.
We find within our selves an increasing aversion to sin (ours, and other’s), and a growing desire to produce the fruits of the Spirit.
We also find within our selves a new strength; to reject the one, and pursue the other.
Love
The overflow of the heart that looks to Christ in love is love for our neighbour. It is among the chief fruits of the Spirit.
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.(1 John 3:14)
Love, as defined by God, is one of the ways we know that we are now in Christ.
What is your attitude towards your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you want to be with them or are you repelled by them?
Do you seek their good, or are you indifferent about them? (Proverbs 13:24, Hebrews 12:6).
The Spirit teaches us to love the brethren in all kinds of ways, and that love is one of the ways we know that we have eternal life.
Spiritual Understanding
Another place the Bible teaches us to look for assurance is in our growing understanding of spiritual things.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
To the unbelieving heart, the cross doesn’t make any sense. It looks silly to them. But the one who’s being saved gets it. He hears, he understands, and he believes.
The spiritual person comprehends spiritual things. And as he grows in the knowledge of the Word of God, so does his understanding.
This is why the Apostle Paul was so keen for the Corinthians to have a stomach for spiritual meat (1 Corinthians 3:1-2). The point was not to make them clever, but that the fruit of the Spirit might continue to grow in them and reassure their hearts of God’s salvation.
Obedience
We are not saved by good works, but unto good works, and the presence of those good works is another means by which God reassures our hearts.
And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. (1 John 2:3)
This is how we know whose children we are. Those who sit at the Lord’s table have a desire to obey Him and live holy lives. Those who feast at the table of demons, do not.
These five assurances (and there are more) are given to us in scripture in order to increase our hope. Through hardships and blessings, God disciplines those He loves and treats them as sons (Hebrews 12:5 -8).
God is training us to look to Christ alone, to bear godly fruit, to love our neighbour and to grow in spiritual understanding and obedience in order to reassure our hearts of His promises to save all who call upon Him.
The Bible also calls this work of God our sanctification – our journey toward the perfect image of Christ in us. Being a journey, progress will vary, saint to saint, as the Spirit works in each of us according to the will of God.
God has no intention of leaving us in doubt or leaving us in the dark about His promises. He wants you to have assurance every bit as much, and even more, than you want and need that assurance.
And He has given us that assurance in His word and in our lives, that we may believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour of the world.
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