Can a Christian have assurance of salvation? According to the Bible, the answer is “Yes!”
The Apostle John wrote in his first letter these encouraging words: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who 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 so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).
There is no wishful thinking in John’s statement. He boldly asserted that we can know with full confidence that eternal life is ours, that our salvation is sure.
For John’s words to become a reality in your life, you must understand what salvation truly is and what Christ accomplished for you through His death, burial and resurrection.
Paul gives us the most succinct statement concerning the nature of salvation in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
You and I come into this world under the wages of sin, dead spiritually. Ephesians 2:1 puts it this way, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” In other words, we were not just sinners in need of forgiveness; we were spiritually dead and in need of life.
Salvation, then, is God’s act of making us alive in Christ. The following passages spell this out in detail.
- But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you have been saved– Eph 2:4-5 (ESV).
- And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses Col 2:13 (ESV).
- To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory Col 1:27 (ESV).
So, salvation is going from death to life. Jesus described it this way; “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).
Jesus’ death on the cross guarantees that your salvation is secure. Through His death, Jesus took your sins and paid the penalty that you justly deserved. Your sins were judged. The verdict was guilty, and the punishment was death. God was satisfied with Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf. Jesus dealt with sin once and for all.
The writer of Hebrews shows the completeness of Christ’s sacrifice: “Then he adds: ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’ And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 10:17-18).
Your eternal life is secure because of the eternal consequences of the cross.
When Jesus saves, He does so completely. Because of the cross, you can know with confidence that “He will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
Those that doubt their salvation probably do not know what salvation is. Usually they think it has to do with their sinful behavior, that they won’t be saved until they change.
The bible tells us that NO ONE will be saved by changing their behavior.
Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law…(our behavior)
Rather salvation is having your condition of being dead spiritually changed to being alive spiritually. This occurs when you repent, or “change your mind” about Jesus.
Jesus tells us that he did NOT come to condemn us but to save us. We need to be saved from our condition of condemnation,(death). When you believe in Jesus, you are born a second time with the spirit of God and are now alive. Because the Spirit has set you free from the Law of Sin and Death, your sin will never again result in spiritual death.
God assures us that this life He has given us is eternal, never ending and thus you are saved completely, because He does not count any of our sins against us.
That was a good post in truth. I see when Adam and Eve ate from that tree of knowledge, that in all reality, they were right then and there born of the flesh, not the Spirit. If they had eaten from the tree of life, they would have been born of the Spirit of God right then. Flesh kills and the Spirit of God through Christ gives life. Christ being that tree of life that was guarded until the time of Christ came to be here in the flesh on earth, to save us. Because everyone born after Adam and Eve, all are born of the flesh and in need to be born again in the Spirit of God, doing the leading, through our free will God gave us in the beginning. So believe God and be set free from the traps of this world, that add to belief, as well alright, yes you are saved, but you need to do:::::::::::, and on and one it goes and we forget Christ already did it all for us, if we belief, we receive, and see, that we are by Christ, made perfect through him.
Colossians 1:22
But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
Thanks