Are you Confident of
Your Salvation?
If you died
today, are you confident that you are prepared to meet your Maker?
I believe the Bible teaches that Christians are to be
confident, not arrogant, but assured of the salvation we have. Yet, I have found that there are too many
Christians who are not confident. Each
time I ask this question on a personal level, more times than not I get an “I’m
not worthy” kind of response. I would
then say, “you do know that there is a big difference between being worthy of
salvation and being confident you have it.
No one is worthy of Jesus dying on the cross, but He did suffer and die
on the tree for you and me, and I am determined not to let that death be in
vain for me (2 Cor.6:1), even though I am not worthy of it. How can we be “worthy” of forgiveness? I don’t think we merit forgiveness, but I am
sure that we can humbly and thankfully receive it, and on the conditions
expressed by the Savior we can receive this freely given grace of God and be
confident we have been justified, washed, and sanctified.
There are too many scriptures that tell us that we should
enjoy “full assurance” of faith. Hebrew
6:11 mentions this. When you consider
that “hope” is “confident expectation”, not an empty wish, you have to begin
wondering why we have so many members who are not confident of going to
heaven. Hebrews 10:22 mentions that
brethren can have “full assurance of faith”. Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is
the assurance of things hoped for”. 1
John 2:28 mentions that we can have “perfect confidence” and 3:21 shows that
our heart can condemn us or it can trust God toward giving us confidence.
Two Extreme Views of Salvation
1.
I cannot know if I am saved (no security).
2.
I cannot be lost (false security).
The
first view is wrong as well as the second view.
The first view is wrong because it flies in the face of too many
scriptures. John wrote “that you may
KNOW you have eternal life”(1 John 5:13).
The first view denies the word of God.
The first view is therefore demonic or Satanic. It does not come from
God. Any view that contradicts the word
of God should be discarded. John wrote
his books by inspiration of God, and God said through John “you may KNOW” you
have eternal life. Paul wrote that we may
have “boldness and access with confidence”(Eph.3:10-12). Paul had no fear of his destiny, and it was
not because of his worthiness but because he trusted and utilized the spiritual
blessings that are in Christ (Eph.1:3,7). So, without any doubt he could say “there
IS laid up for me a crown of righteousness”(2 Tim.4:6-8), and he knew “the Lord
WILL give me in that day”. There was
confident expectation in Paul.
One
thing I know is that this “chief of sinners” did not think he had attained any
state of “worthiness” that gave him a unique basis of confidence. He felt unworthy to be called an apostle, and
certainly felt unworthy of Jesus’ death for his sins, but he did not doubt that
Jesus “was crucified for me”(Gal.2:20). He accepted that as unworthy as he was,
Christ died for him. He accepted that
truth and enjoyed the benefits of believing in Jesus’ worthiness and in Jesus’
love for him on the personal level.
The
second view is also incorrect. There is a false security being taught. It is
the false doctrine of “once-saved-always-saved”. It teaches people to believe
they cannot be lost no matter what they do or fail to do. This doctrine perverts God’s grace and “turns
it into license” to sin(Jude 4-5). It
denies the word of God that said apostles and angels can do things that would
cause them to be “accursed”(Gal.1:6-10). If it is possible to pervert the
gospel (and it is possible), then it is possible to be accursed. If it is possible to be influenced to start
binding the law of Moses, it is possible to “fall from grace”(Gal.5:1-4). Paul
said it took discipline to “buffet my body and bring it into subjection lest
after I have preached to others I myself would become disqualified for the
prize”(1 Cor.9:24). Paul certainly did
not teach that he could never be lost again after he was saved. He warned in Hebrews of developing “an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God”(3:12). The whole book of Hebrews gives warnings
about “crucifying Jesus afresh” and how much worse the punishment when one
trods underfoot the Son of God and does despite to the Spirit of grace (6:3-5-6;
10:25f). There is clearly some danger of
losing our way, becoming entangled again in the things of the world (2
Pet.2:20ff) and be worse than we were before we believed. A false assurance is not what we need. We need assurance based upon a correct
handling of grace and faith, not assurance based upon abusing and misusing God’s
word and deceiving ourselves.
What is the Basis of Our Assurance of Salvation?
Let’s get one thing out of the way right now. My own
WORTHINESS is not the basis of my assurance. I don’t read of men in the Bible
who felt that they were worthy. John the
Baptist said he was not worthy to even untie Jesus’ shoes (Matt.3:11). Jesus was impressed with a centurion who said
he was not worthy for Jesus to come to his house (Matt.8:8). The Prodigal Son,
when he came to himself, said he was no longer worthy to be called his father’s
son (Luke 15:19), yet His father welcomed him home with accepting and loving
arms. Paul did not feel worthy to be called an apostle. Why?
Because he remembered his sins (1 Cor.15:9). In Revelation 5:2-5 there was no one worthy
to open the scrolls except Jesus. There
is a common consensus of feeling unworthy.
But, worthiness is not the basis of assurance. It never was and never
will be. So, how did all these unworthy
people still have confidence of their salvation?
The ONLY way to confidence and assurance is through faith or
trust in Jesus. He died for sinners like
me (John 17:8; Gal.2:20f). If he loved
me at my worst (Rom.5:8), when I was not even trying to please Him, should I
believe that He no longer loves me when I do concern myself with sin and
serving God? In Romans 8:31 Paul shows
us that God is for us and will freely give us all things we need. Need
forgiveness? Got it! Need strength? Got it!
Here we are relying on HIS benefits, not our own worthiness. John says “if
we confess our sins, He is faithful (you can count on it) and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(1 John 1:7-9). Having a partner like Jesus is the only way
to deal effectively with sin. Confess
it, try not to do it any more, and when you fail, confess it and try again. The
confidence grows as the relationship, partnership, fellowship grows closer and
closer, richer and deeper. Perfect love
casts out fear. God is greater than our
conscience. He will clean us up and let us start again, and that will always be
a dependable quality of our Father.
Why Should Our Conscience Condemn Us?
If we stop hungering and thirsting for righteousness and
stop growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, then our conscience should
condemn us and we should lose confidence and want it back enough to return to
our first love, Jesus. If we stop seeking
to do God’s will, we do not need to give ourselves a false confidence that God
will automatically cleanse us from all unrighteousness even as we plan to
continue in sin (Rom.6:1f). If we become
lukewarm in our hearts and service toward God, then we need to know that God
will spew us out of His mouth (Rev.3:16).
If we hate our brother, we should not deceive ourselves that God is
pleased with us. John addresses this self-deception
at length in 1 John 3-5. There are conditions to be met and some absolute
principles and characteristics that we have to employ, utilize, and obey in
order to have confidence that we are in good standing with God. Our conscience should not condemn us if we
have confessed our sins (1 John 1:7 – 2:2) because we can count on God’s
faithfulness to forgive. Our conscience
should not condemn us when we know we love God and our brethren (4:17-21). Because we HOLD confidence in Jesus
(Heb.3:14). If I can be confident that
Jesus forgave me of past sins when I was baptized (Acts 2:36-41; 22:16), then I
can be confident He forgives each time I ask.
If He forgives me all those times in the past when I was not trying, He
is certainly willing to forgive me now that I AM trying but often failing.
Conclusion
So, when I ask, “are
you confident of your salvation?” I am
not asking if you feel like you DESERVE salvation. No one can deserve it. I’m not asking if you think you are perfect.
No one is sinlessly perfect, but forgiven is a daily and regularly obtainable
state of being. I’m not asking if you
feel you are worthy, or if you feel you have obtained perfection. I’m asking if you are in Christ and regularly
washed in His blood as you strive to be more like Him? Are you saved by grace through faith? Have you taken His yoke, learned from Him,
and found “rest for your soul”?(Matt.11:28f). Have you been holding your
confidence in Jesus? You certainly can “do
all things through Christ who strengthens”(Phil.4:13), and therefore we can do
the things to “make our calling and election sure”(2 Pet.1:3-11). In
progressing and growing we know we are spiritually alive, and in washing in the
blood regularly when we sin, we should be confident that we are forgiven,
justified, and sanctified. Each day we
should “know we have eternal life” unless we know we are disregarding some sin
we intend to keep practicing. Let us
hold fast our confidence firm unto the end.
- Terry W. Benton
