Assurance of Salvation

As Chris is very quick to point out "Assurance of Salvation" is in some ways a controversial topic. Many issues related to salvation, like predestination, have caused heated arguments and even the creation of new denominations (like the Presbyterian Church). So we do not enter into this topic lightly.

Like Chris stated many individuals who come to Christ. May only know about the religious experiences they have seem in Hollywood. They may expect the heavens to open up and the singing of angel choirs, or they may expect that the Holy Spirit will give them Jedi-like abilities. They expect that once they have prayed "the prayer" that they will have some sort of religious "experience". When I excepted Jesus Christ into my heart when I was in first grade, I didn't experience any supernatural event, but I did feel like I was doing the right thing, and that was good enough for me at the time.


The Matrix is one of my favorite movies. In the Matrix Neo makes a number of choices, from "following the white rabbit", to "taking the red pill", to "seeing the oracle". Each time more truth is revealed and Neo better understands his world and himself. But each of these events also begins as a let down. He waits at the party all alone until Trinity arrives, After he swallows the pill nothing instantly happens, and after he sees the Oracle all he has is a cookie and feelings of doubt. I don't think this is that much different from someone who prays "the prayer". What they said were words, not some magical incantation, and they may have truly made Christ Lord in their hearts, or they may have just said they would. Unfortunately no one can just try on the Spiritual Life, just like Neo can't simply be told what the "Matrix" is. We either except Jesus as Lord and become born of water and spirit (John 3:5) or we continue are lives simply living on the level of the flesh, a life which is wasting away.

But God doesn't leave our salvation as some hanging question. Are we saved? Are we not? He paid the price for our sins and he wants us to live in the confidence that we have been redeemed from death. The first epistle of John couldn't make it much simpler, "I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. " (1 John 5:13). Jesus couldn't be more clear in his open invitation in the gospel of John, "Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away" (John 6:37). God has made it clear that he's not going to let us go, even when we are unfaithful he will be faithful to us. He's not going to abandon us, he says "I will never leave you and I will never abandon you" (Hebrews 13:5b). If he was willing to give his life on the cross to save ours how much more will he continue to pursue us, even when we are stubborn. As it says "But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

This is exciting truth that should be foundational to how we live. Not only do we now see that God loves us to the point of dying for us, even before we've got our act together. We have also become God's children, born of God (John 1:12). We have become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are clean of our sins, they can't condemn us anymore (Romans 8:1-3). We are no longer enemies of God, instead we are His children (John 3:16-21). This is a relationship that will last for eternity, and it will not be taken away. How wonderful this assurance, it should transform our entire lives!

My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father's hand.

John 10:27-29