Assurance of salvation.

We are not to determine our salvation based on our feelings and emotions, But on what God has said.

2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Remember that Eternal Life is a gift, it wasn’t something you worked for

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 5:13 ESV

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

“The Apostle John’s purpose in presenting these tests of spiritual vitality is not meant to cause his readers to walk away with crushing hopelessness.” Joel Webbon.

“It is one thing to receive eternal life, but it is quite another to “know” that you have received eternal life. It is not the will of God that any of his children should continually wrestle with fears and doubts concerning their salvation” Joel Webbon.

We must start with God and not with ourselves.

1 John 1:5 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people's heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my head ache. The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that preachers should be instructed; but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was,--'

LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. Isaiah 45:22KJV

He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus:--'

'My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, 'Look.' Now lookin' don't take a deal of pains. It ain't liftin' your foot or your finger; it is just, 'Look.' Well, a man needn't go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn't be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, 'Look unto Me.' Ay!'' said he, in broad Essex, ''Many on ye are lookin' to yourselves, but it's no use lookin' there. You'll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, 'Look unto Me.' Some on ye say, 'We must wait for the Spirit's workin'.' You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, 'Look unto Me.' ''

Then the good man followed up his text in this way:--

''Look unto Me; I am sweatin' great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin' on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin' at the Father's right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! Look unto Me!''

When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said,

''Young man, you look very miserable.''

Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued,

''and you always will be miserable--miserable in life, and miserable in death,--if you don't obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.''

Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do,

''You man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin' to do but to look and live.''

Dealing with the sin problem in the right way. How we deal with our sin will determine whether we have true assurance or not

1 John 1:6 ESV

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

None of this is meant to imply that the person walking in the light never sins. To walk in the light is to desire to be holy as God is holy, and to be honest about our sin. Joel Webbon

1 John 1:7 ESV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:8 ESV

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Verse 9 creates an “apparent problem” in that many other scriptures teach that we are completely forgiven of all sin at the point of our conversion ( the moment of salvation), including all sins we may commit in the future. Joel Webbon.

Psalm 103:12 ESV

as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Hebrews 8:12 ESV

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

“If this is the case, why is it necessary to be forgiven and cleansed all over again each new time we sin?” Joel Webbon

“In verse 9 the word confess is in the present tense, but the words forgive and cleanse are in the completed past tense. In light of this, we must understand that confession points to an ongoing action, but the forgiveness and cleansing we receive are completed actions in the past.” Joel Webbon.

In conclusion a loss of assurance is caused by sin, its caused by a loss of focus, looking at yourself instead of Christ.

A loss of assurance may even feel like a loss of salvation.

Thinking biblically we have two options, 1. Either you are not saved and you thought you were? 2. You are saved but you have temporarily lost your assurance.