ASSURANCE
DEFINTION: Assurance means to be convinced of something, to have absolute faith in it. Biblically, a lack of assurance causes one to doubt their salvation as well as other spiritual works God has done in their lives.
FACTS ABOUT ASSURANCE:
Lack of assurance is doubt and is generated by Satan. He will even try to make you think you have committed the unpardonable sin, but God’s Word says that if you come to Him, you will be received (John 6:37). You also can be assured that:
-Jesus paid your entire sin debt and obtained your full pardon: Colossians 2:13-14.
-Your pardon is based on God’s grace, which always exceeds your transgressions: Ephesians 1:7; Romans 5:20.
-God does not hold your past, present, or future sins against you as long as you ask forgiveness: Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:19.
-Forgiveness is extended to all who believe in Jesus: Acts 10:43.
-Forgiveness is available to believers who sin: John 1:9.
God’s grace in forgiving is not an invitation or license to continue in sin. Rather, it should instill in you a passion for righteousness and living a holy life: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey–whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:15-18).
Assurance is not a matter of applying human logic. It is a matter of faith. You simply believe God’s Word and rely on it rather than your own thinking (Proverbs 3:5).
DEALING WITH ASSURANCE:
Believe that you are saved because God’s Word assures it. Read John 3:16; Romans 10:9; and 1 John 1:8-10.
Understand that a lack of assurance comes by feeling. But you are not saved by feeling. You are saved by faith. Satan can tamper with your feelings, but he cannot void the work of God in your life. Determine that you will serve God even if you never “feel” anything that confirms your experience. Your eternal relationship with God is not based on feelings, but on faith.
Read the Word of God consistently. The better you come to know God through His Word, the more you will trust Him completely with your salvation and other spiritual matters. See Romans 10:17; John 7:17; and 1 John 5:13.
Confess your sins to God. Disobedience can result in lack of assurance about your spiritual status in God (1 John 1:8-10 and Proverbs 28:13). Pray the model prayer daily which includes a petition for forgiveness of sin (Matthew 6:9-13).
WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS ABOUT ASSURANCE:
Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. (Psalm 119:89)
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16)
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24)
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. (John 10:27-28)
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39, NKJV)
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.(Hebrews 3:14)
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Hebrews 10:35)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
And this is what he promised us–even eternal life. (1 John 2:25)
I write 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)
(See also “Doubt”, “Faith”, and “Unbelief” in this database.)
