This lesson explores some of the issues concerning our assurance of being saved. Can we be certain, and which of the following will make us so?
Perception
A common issue is personal feelings. People think they are saved or not, according to whether they feel saved or not. However feelings are not always a safe guide. Feelings can change almost as much as the weather. Our moods may deceive us. Some folk even view their feelings as God speaking to them, and their own innermost thoughts as divine revelation. However the Bible warns us, "Lean not on your own understanding"(Prv 3:5). and the Lord clearly says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts"(Isa 55:8-9). Our assurance therefore comes from hearing what the scriptures say.
Promise
Peter made the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit rely on the promise of God (Acts 2:338-39). Paul speaks of "the hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago"(Tit 1:12).
God has shown in the past that his promises do not fail. For example, read Joshua 1:1-9 about the promised land. God made this promise to the patriarchs and prophets like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua. Did this promise come true? See what Solomon said in 1Kings 8:56.
Jesus gives his followers the promise of a better land, a place he has gone to heaven to prepare (Jhn 14:1-3). Our assurance of heaven is not problematic, because it is based upon the promise of God himself, and not one word of his promise can possibly fail.
God’s track record of promise keeping is a sign to us. We need no other sign from God that we are saved.
Proviso
An issue related to God’s promise is proviso. Is God’s promise conditional? Many argue that if God’s promises had provisos, the promises would not be absolute and certain. However the Bible does not take that view. John for example speaks of our assurance in this way: "Hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments"(1Jn 2:3). The "if" shows that a condition exists. If we don’t keep his commandments, then we don’t "know that we know him", we don’t have any assurance.
This "if" or condition is often associated in scripture with the promise of God. Another example is Colossians 1:21-23. Notice here how reconciliation is conditional upon continuing in the faith, and failing to keep this condition moves you away from the assurance of hope.
The fact that God’s warranty of assurance is conditional does not weaken it at all. If you bought a new TV, the warranty would probably indicate that if you were to throw the TV set over a cliff, you would void the warranty. This condition does not hurt or weaken the guarantee. It just tells you that the promise imposes certain responsibilities on you. In the same way, God simply does not make promises that allow you to be irresponsible.
Performance
Just as we said above that assurance ought not to be based upon our perceptions --how we feel-- there are some who will say that assurance is likewise not based on our performance --what we do. However, since there are conditions attached to our assurance, and since these conditions have to be performed by us, it is evident that a lack of performance results in a lack of assurance. That is why Peter says, "Try hard to make your calling and election sure"(2Pe 1:10). If assurance has nothing to do with performance, how could trying hard make make salvation sure?
We know that we don’t earn salvation. It is a free gift (Rom 3:24, Rom 6:23). This does not mean, however, that the gift is free of all obligation and that performance is irrelevant. God gives us the gift that we don’t deserve, only if we do our very best to give him what he does deserve. Does God deserve nothing from us? "Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service" says Paul (Rom 12:1). This settles the issue of performance. God deserves, and requires, no less a service than this. Only to those who perform this sacrifice, will he apply the sacrifice of his Son and give the gift of eternal life.
Perfection
Whilst God appreciates that we do our best, he knows (and we know) that because we have sinned, we cannot measure up to his standard. God’s standard is nothing less than perfection.
John tells us that in God "there is no darkness at all". He is 100% light and 100% right. Now John points out that if we want fellowship with God, we must "walk in the light as he is in the light". Yet John also tells us that if we say we are perfect --that we have no sin-- we are liars (1Jn 1:5-10). So we cannot justify ourselves. We cannot make ourselves out to be right before God. This is a serious issue, however there is a way to resolve it.
We can become perfect before God, because John says, "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin." So whilst we cannot justify ourselves, Jesus can justify us by the sacrifice of his blood (Rom 1:9-11). We ourselves are imperfect, but the perfection of Christ is attributed to us, and so God accepts us as perfect in Christ.
Perseverance
James says, "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him"(Jas 1:12).
There are some who believe that true Christians cannot help but persevere. This view of the perseverance of the saints holds that it is impossible for a sanctified person to fall away --a doctrine sometimes referred to as "the Impossibility of Apostasy". The Hebrew writer however speaks of a hypothetical person who has "counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified as a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace"(Heb 10:28-29). This person has clearly been sanctified, yet has fallen from grace and is lost because, as the writer says earlier, "there remains no more a sacrifice for sins" in his case (Heb 10:26-27).
This is a fitting warning upon which to end our lesson. Let us make sure that our assurance is properly founded according to the five Ps we have discussed in this lesson.