Several weeks ago, in a Heart to Heart article, I wrote about eternal security. In relation to salvation, eternal security is a fact about God as a promise-keeper. If a person believes the gospel message in the Bible about the Lord Jesus Christ and trusts in His person and work on the cross in behalf of one’s sin and resurrection from the dead, he or she is saved. Faith in Christ alone provides salvation with no human works added. What God provides by way of salvation is permanent. It’s secure. Jesus gives incredible evidence about eternal security in the Gospel According to John.
27 “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29).
For some people believing/trusting in Jesus is easy. Others may struggle with the fact that salvation is a free gift based not on what we have to do, but on what Jesus has done.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
You may have heard others say they’ve “walked the aisle” a number of times or asked Jesus to save them on numerous occasions. They may struggle with understanding eternal security or even think salvation can be lost. Multiple factors may contribute to not personally having assurance of salvation.
Assurance of salvation involves knowing you are saved. One’s assurance should come in believing God at His Word. You can know since God’s Word is true, if you have personally believed in the gospel message, salvation is secured. Some excellent verses to memorize and hold dear about assurance of salvation are found in 1 John.
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written 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).
Doubts may surface, and feelings may change. Yet, assurance of salvation can be factually substantiated as to whether or not, at a point in time, one has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him alone to forgive sins, and to provide eternal life. When doubts, feelings, or anything or anyone else conflicts with the truths of God’s Word in the Bible, rely exclusively on what God has revealed in the Scriptures.
Bible verses are from The New American Standard Bible, 1995.
Pastor Cecil Price
October 20, 2024