| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
August 11, 2013 |
| Assurance of Salvation | ||
How can I be sure that I will receive eternal life and be saved from the consequences of sin? This is a question asked by many Christians. In this lesson we will look at what assurance we have of salvation.
There is a web-site called GotQuestions.com that tries to answer the questions that Christians have about Christianity. In most cases the answers are good. Some are very good, even quote worthy. But some are stinkers because the authors have bought-in to some theological fallacies. A recent message from them says:
God wants us to have assurance of our salvation. We cannot live our Christian lives wondering and worrying each day whether or not we are truly saved. That is why the Bible makes the plan of salvation so clear. Believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved (John 3:16; Acts 16:31). Do you believe that Jesus is the Savior, that He died to pay the penalty for your sins (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21)? Are you trusting Him alone for salvation? If your answer is yes, you are saved! Assurance means "having been put beyond all doubt." By taking God's Word to heart, you can "put beyond all doubt" the fact and reality of your eternal salvation.
Jesus Himself affirms this regarding those who have believed in Him: "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand" (John 10:28-29). Eternal life is just that - eternal. There is no one, not even yourself, who can take Christ's God-given gift of salvation away from you.1
Can you spot the problem here? Even as you read through it you start to think he is leaving something out. But then you get to the last sentence "no one, not even yourself, can take Christ's God-given gift of salvation away from you." Then you know what this is. It's the false doctrine of Once-Saved-Always-Saved, also known as security of the believer, eternal security, kingdom salvation, Calvinism, etc..
The quoted verse is true "no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand" but the author's idea that "no one" includes "yourself" makes nonsense of the English language. If you are sitting in someone's favorite chair someone could snatch you out of that chair but you cannot snatch yourself out of the chair. You can, however, choose to get up and get out of that chair. So it is with being in "my Father's hand" - no one can snatch you out but you can choose to walk out. This is done by choosing to sin. Note that this is different from being tricked or deceived into sin. This is knowing that something is wrong but doing it anyway.
The Apostles Paul and John had slightly different views on intentional sin. Paul felt that you could believe and choose to sin. John felt that if you truly believed you would not choose to sin. If you chose to sin that was a sign that you had not truly believed. There isn't any difference between the two; they are just looking at it from different perspectives.
The GotQuestions author asks 3 self-test questions that are intended to provide assurance of salvation
Unfortunately it is possible to answer yes to all three of these and still not have salvation. That's because none of them mentions intentional sin.
The classic verse that is used to refute Once-Saved-Always-Saved comes from Hebrews 10:26-27
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
But some refuse to here this. They interpret this verse to be a message to those who have come to the threshold of accepting Jesus but have turned away. An honest reading of these verses and their context shows this is not the correct understanding.
For those who will not hear the author of Hebrews, Jesus says the same in one of his parables. This parable is probably the least quoted of his parables and comes from Luke 12:42-46
42 The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
From this we see that believers who intentionally sin will be treated as unbelievers. This agrees completely with the verse in Hebrews.
To support the Once-Save-Always-Saved doctrine the author quotes Acts 16:31 which says
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household."
These words are spoken by the Apostles and so we take them to be true, but there are some important differences between what they say and what the author says. The Apostles say "believe", which is present tense, and "will be saved", which is future tense. The author says "If your answer is yes, you are saved". We see the author sees salvation as a present reward for present belief. The Apostles view it as Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:6-8
6 […] the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Paul says he has kept the faith, he has continued to believe, and therefore a crown awaits him when Jesus returns.
The words the Apostles spoke in Acts 16:31 also aren't the words the GotQuestions author uses in his test questions. He says "believe that Jesus is the Savior" and "believe that he paid the penalty for sin". The Apostles say "believe in the Lord Jesus".
So we come to the question, what does it mean to "believe in the Lord Jesus". We might say to someone, "I believe you", but that is different from what the Apostles are saying. To "believe in" someone is to "have faith in the reliability, honesty, benevolence, etc., of"2 that person. Because you believe in this person you are willing to entrust something to them that is very important to you. For example, the members of a platoon might say to their Lieutenant "we believe in you. If you say attack that hill, we'll do it". Experience has taught them that their Lieutenant is reliable, honest, benevolent, etc. and they are willing to trust him with their lives for a while.
But believing in Jesus is even more than that. He asks that you trust him with the entirety of your life AND your after-life. So to believe in him, you must believe that he is
So we see that believing in Jesus is much more than "believe that Jesus is the Savior" and "believe that he paid the penalty for sin". But it does include those.
In his gospel and epistles John often says it slightly differently and more clearly … once you understand what he is saying. One case of that comes from John 3:18
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
We've discussed "the name" in previous lessons. It means something similar to "reputation" or "character". It is the definition of someone based on everything they have said and done. That's exactly what we see from the definition of "believing in". In fact that definition could be changed to be "have faith in the name of" someone.
Jesus' name is one of reliability, honesty, benevolence, and many other good things. Fulfilled prophecies show his reliability; we know he cannot lie; we know he is the definition and source of love.
But if you believe that Jesus is honest, that means you would do what he commands you to do. What good is a platoon if they say to their Lieutenant, "we believe in you but we aren't going to do what you say"? Such words would show that they do not truly believe in their leader. John the Baptist says this in John 3:36
36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
1 John 2:3-4 says it this way
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
The path we've taken in this lesson so far has been a bit twisty so we'll pause to retrace our steps.
Where then does our assurance of salvation come from? First, we cannot have the same assurance of salvation that we have that gravity will keep us on the Earth. We walk by faith, not by sight, in the hope that we have. But the Bible is quite clear about who will be saved and this lesson has quoted some of these verses. The answer is, as John said, those who believe in the name of Jesus.
We now understand the full meaning of "believed in". Stated simply it is an orientation of the heart, a heart that loves God versus a heart that hates God. In more detail it is:
But some people are still uncomfortable with the assurance given in the Bible. Some people are concerned that they didn't take the right steps when they accepted Jesus or they can't remember a particular time when that happened. If there was a required procedure then the Bible would have told us about it. When you turned your heart toward Jesus he began to take you on your own path toward being ever closer to him. All you need to do is follow.
Other people have trouble following Jesus and they wonder if that indicates that they have not really accepted him. Others see other Christians mature more quickly and think there is a problem. Others think they should feel a certain way or should have had a particular experience. These are all examples of one of Satan's best tricks "getting you to feel unworthy and using this to sow doubt and destroy your faith." Don't fall for it.
As we walk in the faith and mature in the faith more of our assurance comes from our experiences in that walk of faith. After a while we've heard too much of God working in the lives of others, seen too much of God working in our lives, and come to know how he has directed our lives and we are assured that he is reliable, his word is true, and that he loves us.
Our assurance of salvation comes from faith in God and God's word, the Bible, where he says in many ways, if you truly believe in me you will be saved. Once you have truly believed it's a walk of faith. Just remember he won't let go of you so don't you let go of him.
The Christian walk begins in faith and continues in faith, not in some other source of assurance.