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ASSURANCE OF SALVATION
It is a wonderful thing to know you are
saved! Some people think that it it not possible to know that you are saved.
Some say you cannot know until what they call “judgment day.” However, the
Bible teaches that God's children know who they are. We read, “Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him
as he is,” (1 John 3:2). And again we read, “These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that
ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God,” (1 John 5:13). Eternal life – being a child of God – is a present
possession, not something awaiting the future. Note the Bible says “...that
ye may know that ye have eternal life...” and “now are we the sons of
God...” - “ye have” and “now are” - important words!
But just how can a sinner know that he or
she is saved? Some people believe they are saved – that they are a child of
God – because someone told them that they are. Many people think they are
saved because they have done something. They prayed a “magical prayer,” or
“went forward” in a religious meeting, or “got baptized,” or some such
thing. But that makes salvation based upon works and the Bible says that
salvation is “Not of works, lest any man should boast,” (Ephesians 2:9).
Others think they are saved because they believe in God and that the Bible
is true, etc., but the Bible says, “Thou believest that there is one God;
thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble,” (James 2:19). So
then there is a kind of faith that is like the demons have which is not at
all “the faith of God's elect,” (Titus 1:1).
Being born again or regenerated is a work
of the Holy Spirit. You cannot birth yourself into God's family by praying,
being baptized, or any other work. It is something the Spirit does. And real
assurance of salvation – of the new birth – is a work of the Spirit also.
The Bible says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we
are the children of God,” (Romans 8:16). The Bible teaches that whenever a
sinner is born again the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in or indwell the
newborn one. The Bible tells us the difference between lost sinners and born
again children of God: “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please
God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of his,” (Romans 8:8-9). Does “the Spirit of God dwell in you”? |
