Secure In Your Salvation

Many people, sadly enough, do not feel secure about their salvation. If you base your salvation upon works rather than faith you can never be quite sure. How do you know for sure that your good works do indeed outweigh your bad deeds? How can you be certain that you are actually using the same scales that God is using to determine your worthiness? It is frightening to think that the criteria we are using may not be at all the same criteria that God is using.

Matthew 5:20-28
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

The following sermon was written by a good friend of mine, Tom Chambers. I believe it explains very clearly how you really can be certain of your place in eternity.
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Death has a wonderful way of showing us what is truly important in our lives. Most often when we think of death we think of those we will leave behind or of those who have gone on ahead of us. In reality Death wipes the slate clean of all the things that are of secondary importance and leaves us with the one thing that is left...our eternal destiny. As believers in God, we have two options: eternity with God or eternal separation from God...that's it. All the things we thought were important are now out of reach.
As Christians we claim our faith in Christ's promise of eternal life. Having accepted His gift of salvation not by our actions or good deeds or anything we have done but because we have professed Him as our savior. Nothing more.

I am not aware of a Christian who has not at some point in their walk posed concerns about their eternal salvation. Every so often when I think about my own walk with Jesus I am reminded of my sinful humanity. I become painfully aware that no matter how hard I try to break free from my sinful past I cannot stop sinning. God cannot and will not accept sin. When we ponder this truth, we can lose heart and doubt our eternal salvation. If God cannot and will not accept sin, how then can we be truly saved and have assurance of salvation? Clearly the confusion and doubt that ensues was not in Jesus' plan for our lives. It is important to remember that as Christians this doubt is not something we need to ponder.

Salvation is so complex and yet so simple. Amid this confusion we read Paul’s words telling us we are all sinners in Rom 3:23 and later telling us in Rom 8:1 that we are no longer under condemnation. So which is it? The short answer is “both”.

The Apostle John is credited with writing the three letters that bears his name. I want to focus in on the first one. It is a short letter that was written close to the end of the first century (around 95 A.D.) and bears a few unusual features.
First, it has no customary greetings associated with letter writing – the author bulldozes directly into a discourse that echoes the first chapter of John’s gospel.
Secondly, there is no audience identified. This letter is directed at Christian believers though none are identified by name or region, but it is clear that the recipients were well acquainted with the author.

It appears that this letter was written in extreme haste - conspicuous because of it's lack of these customary greetings. False teachers who were causing a crisis of faith amongst the Christians. Some of the claims and false teachings forwarded by these individuals were causing many to doubt their salvation. John urgently counteracts these false teaching by reminding them of what they already know. In fact, John uses the word “know” over thirty times in this letter. He also wanted to reaffirm their confidence and remind them of the source of their salvation.

I want to focus on the fifth chapter of this letter in which John lays out the assurance of salvation for his readers. John lays it out in two parts:

In the first two verses John speaks of the testimony of God. What is that testimony? In short God testifies that Jesus is divine, that he is the Christ. The Holy Spirit testifies with the water and the blood, that, according to the law, no charge could be brought against a man unless it could be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If we accept men's testimonies then we surely had better accept God's testimony.

I am reading out of the NIV. (read 1 Jn 5:10-15)

vs 10: Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son.

Vs 11: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

Vs 12: He who has the Son has life: he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Vs 13: I write theses things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life,

In vs 10:
-the word 'believe' means to commit to and have trust in. This word in Greek means more than just to acknowledge His existence, but to place, commit trust in Him. This belief and trust is a confidence that He will do what He says He will.

-The testimony in his HEART. The testimony is a witness of evidence seated in the core of your being. It is something you “know” in your very core. It represents a “gut” feeling.

Vs 11:
-Eternal of course means perpetual. Eternity is a strange word. It's concept is a word used to describe a time-frame that is beyond time. This is life outside of time. The term forever really doesn't do it justice. God has given us perpetual life which is in His Son and clearly we must have the Son to have this eternal life.

Vs 12:
-One of the defining features of the apostle John's writings are his use of contrasting ideas. This letter is full of contrasts and this one really hits the nail on the head. This concept is black and white...it's A or B, yes or no. There is no 'maybe' involved. It requires a commitment from the listener or reader.

Vs 13:
-John now limits his audience only to those who have already believed in the name of the Son of God. It means those of you who believe that Jesus is the Son of God can KNOW you are saved just because you have believed. The apostle John covers two things:
1. Believe God; and
2. Believe in Jesus as the Son of God.

That's it.

Either Jesus is accepted as the Son of God and you have salvation, or He is rejected which means that God is not believed. To not believe God is to reject Him altogether.
But in the text John is writing to believers who have believed God and accepted Jesus.
We have accepted the Son of God, therefore we have eternal life.
Now we can move to the second part; this is what we can do with the assurance of salvation:
Let's look at the next two verses.
(Read vs 14 – 15)

vs 14: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

Vs 15: And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.

Vs 14:
-The word confidence means frankness or bluntness...”the bottom line”. Because we have the eternal life through Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection we now have the freedom to ask for anything with the provision that it falls within His will. But note, God will not bend to our will, but we must bend to His will.

Vs 15:
-Note the present tense of the word 'HAVE'. This word tells us that since God hears our requests (which are in accordance with His will) we can be confident they are granted. This is the floor plan of an effective prayer life! The assurance of God's salvation leads us naturally into furthering His kingdom.

What does this all mean? It means that you can KNOW you are saved. The only reason you might doubt your salvation is because the enemy is throwing lies at you to neutralize your action as a believing Christian. If you doubt your salvation, the focus of your prayer life is focused upon you and the fear for yourself rather than focused on God and furthering of God's kingdom. Inward versus outward.

If you are concerned about your future with God then you are experiencing the Holy Spirit's nudge. This is that “gut feeling” we read about in verse 10. Your spirit is responding to the calling of the Holy Spirit!

John also wrote about this just a chapter or two earlier. Let's go to 1 Jn 3:19.

(Read 1 Jn 3:19-24)
vs. 19: This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set out hearts at rest in his presence...
vs 20: whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
vs 21: Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God...
vs 22: and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
Vs 23: And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.
Vs 24: Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.

In short, if you are concerned about your spiritual destiny and walk with God, then I would say you are in good shape. Those whose eternal destiny is in question are those who don't know Jesus as their savior and perhaps don't care. We as Christians need to have a healthy dose of reverent fear of God. If we have that assurance of faith then we can experience the joy that the apostle Paul speaks of in Philippians. If you have accepted Jesus as your savior you needn't ever concern yourself with doubts regarding your salvation ever again.