Assurance of Salvation
Just this week I heard another pastor tell a story about a Christian police officer. He said that the officer came to him in tears and told him that he had been living in complete fear every single day of his life. In his line of work, he knew that he could die at any moment of any day, and he feared that he would die without having time to confess all of his sins and that he would go to hell. He had no assurance of salvation because he believed that he would not be forgiven if he did not confess every sin to God.
He is not the only one who worries about the assurance of his salvation. I’ve heard many others who share the same concern, and while it may not be due to unconfessed sin in their lives, it almost always has something to do with sins they’ve committed.
Many of us fear that some sin from our past was too big for God to forgive. There’s so much shame that we carry from what we did and how it affected someone else, that we can’t rest. We have no assurance of our salvation.
For others of us, it may not be one big sin from our past but the fact that there are ongoing sins that keep popping up in our lives. We don’t want to keep doing it, but for some reason, we just can’t seem to find ultimate victory in this area of our lives. We think that there is no way God will let us into heaven since we keep committing this sin over and over again.
What does the Bible say about assurance of salvation? Let’s look at some verses related to our forgiveness and eternal life with God.
COMPLETE FORGIVENESS
When Jesus went to the cross, we were told that He bore our sins in His body (1 Peter 2:24) to pay the penalty for our sins. If Jesus was dying for your sins, how many of those would be committed in the future? All of them, right? He died 2,000 years ago, and you were born well after that.
When Jesus bore our sins in His body, He was taking on all the sins of humanity from all time. All of the past sins that had been committed, the present sins being committed at that moment, and all of the future sins that would be committed after His death. He took them all into His body, paid the penalty for them all, and then rose from the grave defeating the power of sin and death forever.
The author of Hebrews tells us that it was a one-time sacrifice for all sins.
12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God
(Hebrews 10:12)
Jesus sat down after this sacrifice at the right hand of God because there was no more work to be done for the forgiveness of all sins for all time. He even declared, “It is finished,” as He took his last breath on the cross.
You have complete forgiveness if you’ve put your faith in Jesus for salvation.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us.
(Ephesians 1:7-8)
You have had complete forgiveness of all your sins the moment you put your faith in Jesus.
You don’t have to confess each time you sin to be forgiven. Confession is good. To acknowledge that you sin and agree with God that what you did was wrong is a healthy thing to do, but it does not produce a new forgiveness each time you confess.
All of your sins were paid for by Jesus’ blood on the cross, and complete forgiveness was given to you at the moment of your conversion.
If you’ve been doubting your assurance of salvation because of some sin from your past or because you were fearful you might die with unconfessed sin, know today that your salvation is secure.
ETERNAL LIFE
You have eternal life the moment you put your faith in Jesus for salvation. Look at all of these verses that are written by the apostle John about eternal life:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
(John 3:36)
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
(John 5:24)
47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
(John 6:47)
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
(1 John 5:12-13)
It sure seems like God wants us to have assurance of salvation. Belief in Jesus equals eternal life. The most amazing thing about this is that you don’t have to wait to begin experiencing that eternal life.
Several of those verses above make it clear that you have eternal life the moment you begin trusting in Jesus for salvation. The apostle Paul even tells us that we are spiritually already seated in heaven.
In Ephesians 2, Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus and tells them this:
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:6-7)
These Christians were still alive, and he is telling them that they were seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. They were already experiencing the eternal life that started the moment they believed in Jesus. The same thing is true about you.
There are so many verses in the Bible that give us assurance of salvation.
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION
God does not want you to live in fear. He wants you to know that you have eternal life based on the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
If you have doubts about the assurance of your salvation, look at one final verse from Colossians:
12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Colossians 1:12-14)
Look at all of the things that Paul says have already happened to those who believe in Jesus:
YOU HAVE BEEN QUALIFIED (V. 12)
To be qualified means that you’ve met the requirements. You’ve met the requirements to share in the inheritance of eternal life in heaven. There are no more requirements that have to be met. You are in.
YOU HAVE BEEN RESCUED (V. 13)
You’ve already been rescued from the dominion of darkness. You were in the dominion of darkness because of sin in your life, but because God has forgiven all of your sins, you were rescued from the dominion of darkness. Satan has no hold on you.
YOU’RE ALREADY IN THE KINGDOM (V. 13)
Paul says that you’ve already been brought into the Kingdom of the Son He loves. That’s past tense. It happened the moment you believed in Jesus.
YOU HAVE REDEMPTION (V. 13)
Your sins have been paid for. The ransom price has been paid. There is no more debt that you owe. You have been redeemed.
YOU HAVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS (V. 13)
The last thing Paul says in this passage is that you have the forgiveness of sins. Notice it’s plural. All of your sins have been forgiven. He didn’t say they will be forgiven as you confess each one. No, he says you have forgiveness now…even for the sins you will commit in the future.
You can breathe deeply. You can rest. Your salvation is secure. Enjoy God and live each day from the eternal life you already have in Him.
