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“The Assurance of Salvation”
Categories: M. W. Bassford, Sermons
One of the unexpected side-effects of my diagnosis has been that these days, I find that I have much more in common with our oldest members. I share with them the knowledge that our time on earth is short, which naturally draws our thoughts to our eternal destination. I was discussing the subject with an older sister a week or two ago, and her comment about the judgment was, “I don’t know if I’m good enough.” She was worried about how she was going to fare.
To put this statement in its context, a couple of minutes later, she told me with complete sincerity that if she could take my ALS on herself, she would. This is a woman with such love in her heart that she is literally willing to die in the place of a brother in Christ, and she’s concerned about whether she’s a sheep or a goat!
To be frank, I regard this as an indictment of myself and my preaching brethren. I fear that we spend so much time trying to convince backsliders of their danger that we unwittingly plant seeds of doubt in the hearts of the most faithful. However well-intentioned, that’s not declaring the whole counsel of God! I want to change that at least a little bit this morning by considering the Scriptural testimony concerning the assurance of our salvation.
In particular, I want to look at three bases of our confidence, the first of which is THE PROMISE OF GOD. Let’s read about one of His greatest promises in Hebrews 8:10-12. Before I delve into that passage, though, there’s something else we need to explore. Every passage that I will cite this morning is about God, and there’s a reason for that. If our salvation were about us and our actions, we would have cause for concern, but our salvation isn’t about us. It’s about God and the power of His grace. We are uncertain, but the salvation of God is certain, and it’s certain in part because of His promise.
This whole text is surely one of the most beautiful and uplifting passages in the Bible, but I want to focus on two promises that God makes in it. First, He tells us that He will be our God, and we will be His people. Without this promise, it would be the height of arrogance for any of us to claim to belong to God. How could people as imperfect as all of us are have any part in His perfection? Quite simply, we belong to Him because He has said so. Despite all that we have done, He is not ashamed to be called our God.
The second promise, in v. 12, is if anything even more important. There, God promises that He will forgive our transgressions and forget our sins. This is a costly promise! It cost God the most precious thing He had. However, God was faithful to His word and made our salvation possible through the lifeblood of His Son. The power of that sacrifice was so great that to God, it is as though our sins never happened. Every faithful Christian is “good enough” because in the eyes of God, only the good works are left.
Second, we can be assured of our salvation because of THE POWER OF GOD. Look at the words of the Lord in John 10:27-29. Sad to say, I’m afraid that brotherhood preachers spend more time explaining this passage away in order to defeat Calvinism than they do explaining it in order to comfort the saints. Today, though, let’s go through it without using the C-word.
Notice first of all that v. 27 defines the subjects of the rest of the text. It’s not about everybody. It’s about the sheep, those who know Jesus’ voice and follow Him. That means that all of us can take a very simple test to find out whether the rest applies to us. All we have to do is to ask ourselves honestly, “Do I know the voice of Jesus? Do I follow where He leads?” If the answer to those questions is “Yes,” we are His sheep.
If we are indeed the sheep of the Good Shepherd, that’s a consequential thing to be! Pay attention to what Jesus reveals about His sheep. He will grant them eternal life, they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of His hand. There are lions and wolves out there, but none of them are stronger than Jesus, and even if they were, absolutely nobody is stronger than the Father!
This means, then, that our salvation is not about being “good enough”. It’s not about getting all of the sin out of our lives by ourselves. It’s about hearing and following our Shepherd. Yes, we should hate sin and strive to avoid sinning, but we should not wring our hands and worry about losing our souls every time we have an unkind thought. That’s why we have a Shepherd—to protect us! I know me, and I don’t trust me at all. However, I also know Jesus, and I do trust Him. Because of His power, His sheep can know perfect comfort and perfect peace.
Finally, we can be confident in our salvation because of THE LOVE OF GOD. Let’s conclude our reading this morning with Romans 8:35-39. To be honest, brethren, I feel a little bit like I’ve assembled a dessert buffet of a sermon because these passages are so enjoyable to study. What an amazing text this is! It tells us that the love of God is literally the most powerful force in the universe. There is nothing that can separate us from it.
This is true despite all the trials that Christians can face. For Paul and the rest of our brethren in the first century, affliction, distress, persecution, and all the rest weren’t horrible hypotheticals. Those things were real problems that they had to deal with. In fact, v. 36, is a quotation from Psalm 44. All through that Psalm, the Israelites complain that they’re being defeated in battle even though they are righteous. Paul’s rejoinder is that all of those problems aren’t a defeat. They may look like it in worldly terms, but in reality, every Christian who endures is more than a conqueror because of the love of Jesus.
Let’s make this real. Since my diagnosis, I’ve had I don’t know how many people tell me how sorry they are that I have to face this. You know what? I’m not sorry. I know I’ve got a hard, ugly few years ahead of me, but even though ALS can take away the use of my limbs, my voice, my mind, and my life, it cannot separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I will not die a victim. I will die a conqueror.
I don’t know what problems you have going on in your life. I’d imagine that some of you are dealing with some pretty heavy stuff. However, whatever it is, it can’t separate you from the love of God either. Because of that love, we can be certain that He will be with us through every day of our lives, and through all of eternity, we will be with Him.
