The Assurance of Salvation

Consider a pet dog that sits by the door every time its owner leaves, tail wagging in anticipation. That dog knows its owner will return. In a similar way, we can have the same assurance in our salvation through Christ—the 'door' to a relationship with God. No matter what, we can wait with joy and confidence for His return, knowing He has secured our future with Him!

I am thankful tonight that I am saved, that nothing can change that, that nothing can take it away from me. If you are saved then you know what I’m talking about and you and I can rejoice greatly together! Tonight I want us to explore some truths together about the assurance of salvation.

Now I know there are some groups of Christians who do not believe in the permanence of salvation, I once had a sweet elderly lady in my neighborhood tell me that she could never be convinced that salvation couldn’t be taken away and I asked her, “Can God go to hell?” To which she replied, “ No! Of course not!” I said to her then salvation must be permanent because Jesus said of the Holy Spirit — John 14:15–16 “15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” Now if we could lose our salvation then Jesus is a liar, because there would be no way He could promise the Holy Spirit dwelling with us forever.

Tonight we are going to focus solely on the assurance of salvation and next week we will get into the eternal security of the believer. Notice first:

The Means we are Assured of Our Salvation

The assurance of salvation is one of the greatest struggles for Christians. The main reason for this is a lack of faith in what the Word of God teaches! The Bible teaches that:

Those who are saved can be assured that they are saved by the witness of the Holy Spirit indwelling them

Romans 8:9 “9 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.”

1 John 3:24 “24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

This involves the Holy Spirit taking the Word of God and testifying to those who are saved of their relationship to God

1 John 5:9–12 “9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

Romans 8:16 “16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”

Galatians 4:6 “6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

In this process He takes the promises of God and makes them personal and relative to God’s children 2 Chronicles 20:20 “20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”

The word “established” = verified!

Those who are saved can be assured that they are saved if they will receive the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning the Word of God and believe it!

Isaiah 7:9 “9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”

Titus 1:2 “2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”

1 John 5:13 “13 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.”

Assurance of salvation can also be gained by examining the signs of new life in those who have been born-again 2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Some of the most miserable people I know are Christians who lack the assurance of salvation. There my be plenty of reasons for this, but the biggest is simply lacking faith in God and His Word. Notice lastly...

The Results of Salvation Evident in Our Lives

There are nine results of salvation evident in the life of the believer, briefly they are:

When a person is saved they will desire and enjoy fellowship with other Christians 1 John 1:3 “3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

When a person is saved they will have a desire to obey God — 1 John 2:3 “3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” An unsaved person will not have this desire Romans 3:12 “12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

When a person is saved they are going to have the power of the Holy Spirit to do righteously under His control. Romans 8:4 “4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

When a person is saved they are going to love God’s people 1 John 3:14 “14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”

When a person is saved they a going to be willing to publically declare their belief in God. 1 John 5:9–10 “9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”

When a person is saved they are going to have discernment about the things of God 1 Corinthians 2:14 “14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

When a person is saved they are going to have a desire for the Word of God 1 Peter 2:1–2 “1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”

When a person is saved he is going to demonstrate a different kind of character because the Holy Spirit will begin to produce fruit in their life! Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

When a person is saved they will be convicted about sin they commit and chastened by the Lord UNLESS they judge themselves and correct the error first.

Hebrews 12:6 “6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

1 John 3:8–10 “8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

I want to be bold — if you are struggling with assurance of your salvation and any of these are missing in your life it could be that you have never trusted Jesus as your Savior. The good news is that is easily fixed!

The Bottom line is this: God doesn’t want you to be miserable. He wants you to live in victory! To do that you have to, first, be in a right relationship with Him, and second, be in close fellowship with Him.

For the first one you go to Calvary, for the second you go to the Word. The good news is, both are in easy reach!