We Can be Fully Assured

“Assurance is the fruit that grows out of the root of faith”

Stephen Charnock

It breaks my heart to talk with those who only have a semblence of peace and security concerning their salvation. It’s no new thing or doctrine to believe you can have eternal salvation and then suddenly its lost. From its very root this teaching has been false and unfortunately is still being spread in churches today.

These people outwardly appear assured, but I can only imagine that internally is constant conflict and doubts. Always needing to look to themselves for their good works for assurance, they will never have assurance, they will never have true peace, and possibly they never experienced Salvation (I will not say this about all, but it is a possibility).

To get a better understanding of this, we first need to define some terms. These aren’t my definitions, but are the proper historic definitions the church have went by since the beginning.

• Salvation- delivered or rescued from peril. More specific to what I’m writing about, salvation is the deliverance from sin and its consequence.
• Eternal- ancient, forever, everlasting. Extending into the the distant past and future.
• Assurance- Firm persuasion; full confidence or trust; freedom from doubt; certain expectation; the utmost certainty. In christian theology it is full confidence of one’s interest in Christ, and of final salvation.
• Justification- to declare righteous. Justification is an act of God whereby He pronounces a sinner to be righteous because of that sinner’s faith in Christ.

When thinking about salvation, we must think about Jesus. It was through His sacrifice that we receive salvation. Did Jesus die and pay the penalty for all our sins or did He pay only for the sins we committed before our salvation? This question is a very confusing one for those that believe we can lose our salvation, but what does scripture say?

If Christ didn’t die for future, post salvation sins then one must agree that Christ must be sacrificed again and again. This is Rome’s sacrifice of the mass. An unbiblical and unholy ritual that does nothing for anyone. Hebrews 10:14 reads “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy”. And Hebrews 7 explicitly goes against the sacrifice of the mass: “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself”.

Being a calvinist, one of the go to verses that is always given to me as a way to shoot my calvinist bubble out of they sky would be John 3:16. Funny enough, the people who believe salvation can be lost are among the ones who quote this verse quite often to me, not realizing it refutes their belief. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

We read numerous other passages in scripture that points to salvation being eternal.

• John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
• Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Galatians 6:8 “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life”
• 1 Tim 6:12 “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
• 1 John 2:25 “And this is what he promised us—eternal life.”
• 1 John 5:11 “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
• Acts 13:48 “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.”

This is not a full list of scripture but it does point to the fact that salvation is eternal. We do nothing to earn it, and God works in us and keeps us. He preserves us until the end by the work of the Spirit that dwells inside the beliver.

Genuine godly faith always produces assurance. And that assurance is in the finished work of Christ, not our works. As quick as we are to fail, why would we want to base our assurance of salvation on anything but Christ?

The justification the believer receives is a one time event. Romans 3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”. Galatians 2:16 says we are not justified by keeping laws, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 5:8-10 reads “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life“.

There is no need to get re-justified, or have a sacrifice of the mass, because both the sacrifice and justification happens once. The blood of bulls and goats is now useless because we have a Great High Priest is Christ.

Romans 8:28-30 reads “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified”.

Notice “God causes all things to work together for good”….. Some will say “finish the verse, it says to those who love God”. I have heard this time and time again, they place the love by the person as the reason for God working all things for the good. But in reality, the verse shows that those who are called are the ones who love God. There is a sequence in the verse that shows how the entire process plays out. God foreknew His people and predestined them, then He calls them through the gospel of Christ, He then justifies them and glorifies them.

With everything laid out so plainly, why would one think God could fail? Why would God lose one of His? Why would we look to ourselves for assurance? If God does all these things, who can be against us (Rom 8:31)? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things (Rom 8:32)? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us(Rom 8:33-34).

Have assurance believer. Let your trust rest in Christ, not your works or lack of works. Be like Paul who considered himself the chief of sinners but also knew and stated “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)