Assurance for Salvation:
Assurance Versus Security
Security:
When we put our faith on what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross and trust that Jesus' shed blood has the power to wash all our sins then our eternal security in Christ becomes a spiritual reality.
If you have trusted what Jesus did on the cross for you for entering heaven and put your faith on Him then your gift of eternal life (Ticket to Heaven) and security is a fact. God made a promise that whoever puts their faith on HIS Son Jesus Christ then God cannot break His promise of Eternal Life (Ticket to Heaven).
What happens after you get your Ticket to Heaven?
Doubts will come! Doubting is a process you need to conquer and below are verses to help you with your doubts. God made a promise to whosoever puts their faith in the works of His Son, God promises everlasting life.
Most individual from all religions put their faith on their works and behavior to earn their way into heaven. If your have asked Jesus Christ into your life and at one time put your faith on God's word then security has been accomplished.
Moses told the Jews to put blood on their door to avoid the angel of death. All those who put blood on their door secured a promise that the angel of death would not strike their home.
Those who went to bed without worrying were very secure in Moses message from God. Those who worried wether enough blood on the door or not were still secure but could not enjoy a good night sleep and probably stayed up all night worrying and pacing the floor.
Security was assured to anyone who had blood on their door no matter how much one had faith in what Moses said. God made a promise to Moses and Moses told his people.
Security of a safe home that night was secured by blood on the door nothing to do with worrying or not worrying. Big faith or little faith as long as there was enough faith to put blood on the door. Period. Any door that had blood was spared from the Angel of death.
Your security is based on you going to the cross and putting your faith on the work Jesus Christ did for you. The moment you put your faith on the Son of God then it's like God the father puts His finger in the blood of His Son and marks your forehead. The blood is your Ticket to Heaven the same as the Passover story.
Assurance:
Assurance is having confidence in the promise of God for your security. It is the realization of what we have in Christ such as eternal life, (Ticket to Heaven), forgiveness of sin.
Assurance has to do with our comprehension of the facts and provisions of eternal life (ticket to heaven) through faith in Christ.
Assurance is so crucial. Why? Because, properly understood, it will touch you as a believer in several areas of your life. It will help you to witness to others about what God says in getting into heaven (ticket to heaven) with more confidence and boldness. Not only does it give assurance of going to heaven, but with that also comes a greater assurance of God’s promises in all areas of your life.
If you meet someone and they do not have assurance, one should always begin by sharing the gospel to be sure they have truly trusted in Christ. Once this is confirmed, then move on to the matters of assurance.
Please understand the devil is good at what he does! Here are some of his tricks he uses on religious people or good people.
Lie # 1 There is no hell!
Jesus said : "I am the Truth"
Jesus talked about hell more than anyone else. Can we believe Jesus or the devil's lie?
Lie # 2 Your a good person, you help others and do the best you can. You certainly earned your ticket to heaven!
Read Rev. 21:8 " Murderers ........and all liars will have their place in the lake of fire"
Should we believe God's word or the devil's lie?
Lie # 3 God is too good to send anyone to hell!
Jesus God came and took the awful punishment on the cross because no one but Jesus could pay for our sins, Jesus was the perfect lamb.
Did God make a big mistake in sending His Son on the cross if God is not sending anyone to hell?
Stop believing the lie most of us have been
believing for years. Believe God, Jesus died because He loved us and paid for our sins. What must you do? Receive Jesus, take His gift of eternal life by putting your faith on the power of Jesus's blood for eternal life (ticket to heaven).
Once you have your ticket to heaven the devil will be at work to confuse you about eternal life. Why? If you are not sure of your ticket to heaven you will most likely not tell others how to get their ticket to heaven.
Other reason for lack of assurance:
People often lack assurance because of struggles they have with certain sins. They wonder if a true believer would have these kinds of problems. The real problem is ignorance of man’s sinful nature, the spiritual warfare we are in, God’s means of deliverance, and the need to grow and mature in Christ.
One of the primary reason behind a lack of assurance is doctrinal misunderstanding and the consequent lack of faith in the finished work of Christ. This means a failure to understand the Word and its teaching regarding mankind, his sin and inability to work for or maintain his salvation, God’s perfect holiness, and the finished nature and sufficiency of the work of Christ.
People lack the understanding of the power of the blood of Jesus. People have a tendency to add to the works of Jesus. People don't understand what it truly means to be under the grace of God. People do not fully understand or grasp that Ticket to Heaven is truly a GIFT from the Living God.
Some people often lack assurance because they have erroneously been taught that they should look to themselves and their works as the primary proof of their salvation. This is a major issue today.
Those who think the sinner must make Christ Lord of his life, or at least promise to do so, before he can be saved make assurance rest on the evidence of a surrendered walk. Some cites this as the only way a believer can be assured of his or her salvation.
So what is the proper basis for assurance? Should we look to some experience or our works?
Foundations for Assurance
The Word of God
The Word of God is God’s witness to the believer (1 John 5:11-13). The gift which comes only through faith in God’s unique Son. The clear declaration of Scripture is that the one who believes in Christ’s person and work on the cross as God’s provision for his sins has:
(1) Eternal life.
John 3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life.
(2) Forgiveness of all sin.
Acts 10:43 About him all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
Colossians 2:13 And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions.
(3) Freedom from condemnation.
John 5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
(4) Justification (declared righteous by God).
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 4:1-6 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter? For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about—but not before God. For what does the scripture say? “ Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness. So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Romans 4:25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.
(5) Salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.
(6) A child of God by faith.
John 1:12 But to all who have received Him—those who believe in His name—he has given the right to become God’S children
Romans 8:14-17 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abbas, Father.” The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’S children. And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)—if indeed we suffer with Him so we may also be glorified with Him.
Many wise pastors have insisted that the basis for knowing that you are a Christian is not what I do but what God’s Word says about what Christ has done and continues to do for those who have believed (John 1:12; 1 John 5:13).
I know I belong to Christ because I have believed in Jesus Christ as my only Savior and Redeemer from eternal destruction. It’s not the evidences of my life that are my basis for knowing that. It’s the Word of God. God said it. That settles it.
It is sad to see so many Christians not fully enjoy their ticket to heaven because of a genuine, valid concern about the lack of growth and the lack of evident Christian lifestyle.
Christians who do not grasp the TRUTH and Power of what Jesus did on the Cross add to the Gospel. Please re-read the word and understand the Power of God.
It is by grace and not of works that one gets into heaven.
Roman 11:6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
To properly understand the work of Christ (Christ’s substitution death, dying in our place and bearing our sins on the cross) is another vital need tremendously important to assurance. This too, of course, is based on the statements of Scripture, but the emphasis is on understanding the sufficiency, finished nature, and accomplishments of the death of Christ. There are two prominent aspects here which Scripture emphatically teaches:
(1) Salvation is not by our works or merit.
Roman 4:1-6 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.
Titus 3:5-7 He saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”
(2) Salvation is solely by Christ’s person and work as a gift of God.
1 John 5:5-12 Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus Christ is the one who came by water and blood—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three are in agreement. If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son. (The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.) And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.
Philippians 3:8-9 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.
Assurance, base it upon the WORD and God's promises not about your works or your feelings but on God's Word alone and His Gift.
