Assurance of Salvation

If you want to be sure of your salvation keep reading…

When I was introduced to Christ by my camp counselor, he used John 3:16.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

I think this is an excellent verse to show us the complete plan of salvation, and also to show how we can be sure of our salvation.  Let’s look at every part of this verse.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…

God loves everyone, and He loves you.  He loves us so much that He gave His Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  Jesus’ shed blood became a payment for your sins so that you can have eternal life.

That whoever believes in Him…

Even though Jesus died for all people on the cross, His own sacrifice is of no benefit to us unless we believe in Him.  Each and every person must believe in God and in His Son.  Our belief must not be just an intellectual belief—believing that He exists.  We must believe Him with our heart; we must trust Him and rely on Him to save us.  And we must also receive Him as our Lord—our master and teacher.

Know that your salvation is by your simple trust in Him (your faith) and not by your good works.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”

Should not perish, but have eternal life

This is the assurance part of the verse.  If we believe in Him we will not perish (we will not die without Christ and go to hell), but we have eternal life.  Our belief in Him gives us eternal life.

How does this work?  Well, when you trust in Him, He comes into you and dwells with you and makes you a new person.  You become part of His family.  You become a child of God.  At that very moment in which you believed and became His child God gave you eternal life.

Now what I am saying is not that you will get eternal life after you die; rather, as soon as you trust Him, you then have eternal life.  In John 17:3 Jesus tells us what eternal life is.  He said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”

Now here is a favorite passage of mine that will give you an absolute assurance of your salvation:

1 John 5:11-12

And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

If you have believed in Christ and have received Him into your life then you have eternal life.  Nothing can take it away from you.  You are His child and He will keep you in His hand.  John 10:27-30 says,

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

If you are a Christian you are His sheep and you have eternal life.

If you still have doubts about your salvation please email me and I will pray for you.

My email address is: painterguy@usfamily.net