Bob Cassell, Messenger

It may be surprising to learn that countless numbers of Christians go through life without any certainty concerning whether or not they are saved. Many Christians are persuaded it is impossible to have certainty in the matter of a certain salvation.

Some believers never question the fact of their initial security in Christ, but for unknown reasons they become unsure they will be kept safe and will arrive behind the portals of Heaven. They begin with gladness and hope, but because of little or no growth in the word of God, they mistakenly look at the foibles and failures in their lives and think they are not saved. Their evaluation of the reality of their salvation becomes related to Human merit and the works of their own hands. They, with the best intentions, hope that all of their good behavior will outweigh the bad or that they will successfully hold out to the end. Does this sound risky or uncertain to you? Of course, it does. Under this persuasion no one can ever know the remaining balance until the final tally is recorded. This unknown is the unfortunate persuasion of those who subscribe to the fallacious theory of perseverance of the saints. I humbly ask you… is this any way to live? It is not! But there is a better and surer way! To believe you cannot know you are going to Heaven when the word of God says you can certainly know is most unfortunate and indicates the presence of a blind, uninformed, and vacuous mind.

The lack of certainty as to the future is the cause of much of a person’s distress. Assurance is of inestimable value in all phases of human life. This is also true in the spiritual life of all who are saved.

The certainty of the possession of eternal life is not an unknown nor is it unknowable. Rather, it is a critical essential for our quickly passing lives and should find a permanent place within the soul of every believer. Fortunately, God’s Word has not left us in the dark in this critical matter.

All doubts and uncertainties concerning whether or not a person is saved can be traced to one of three causes.

1. It is possible that some may consider their own feelings far above all biblical facts. Emotions are strong and may be persuasive, but when they are weighed to determine the validity of one’s salvation, they are weak, unreliable, and misleading guides. Emotions have their right place in the life a believer, but they have absolutely nothing to do with the fact of a believers salvation.
2. A second possibility that may cause the believer to doubt could be due to a feeling that they are not good enough to be saved by a holy and righteous God. Let it be quickly known, that Salvation never, never, depends upon the goodness or righteousness of any human being. It depends upon the goodness, perfection, and righteousness of God, and man’s acceptance of His gracious offer.
3. Failure to accept this righteous offer of eternal life may be influenced by how someone reasons about salvation. At the instant a person begins to reason about God’s so great salvation they have separated themselves from the very essence of salvation which is a sure and steadfast faith in a meritorious object. The only meritorious object of faith that secures salvation is a faith that is centered squarely in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since faith is God’s only condition that is placed on man to appropriate salvation it is certain there will be uncertainty when reason and doubt take the place of simple faith in Jesus Christ.

When a person who is well known for truthfulness and keeping his promises gives you his word, that word from this truthful person is accepted, and fellow men act in full assurance that he will do as he has said he will do. This is not unknown to you, as most men believe the living God is reliable and will do as he says he will do. The scriptures clearly declare:

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the Son of man, that he should repent: has he said, and shall he not to it? Or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23:19).

Therefore, that which God says in His Word can be accepted without the slightest hesitation from mankind. God’s holy word must always be the basis for knowledge and understanding about salvation. In speaking of salvation God uses very definite and clear terms which need no interpretation, but on occasion a re-emphasis, because of man’s preconceptions, blur their clarity.

One of the most definite statements concerning a humans present possession of salvation come from the lips of Jesus Christ himself.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has eternal life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life (John 5:24).

Notice the doubling of the words, Verily, verily! Perhaps it is necessary to strongly emphasize that which follows because of man’s difficulty to securely rest in the assurance that this statement is true. Then comes the words I Say. Jesus in speaking here declares Himself as the authority for what is said. The statements that follow must of certainty be accepted as the direct word of God, and therefore are absolutely true. To question these statements is to question the truthfulness of the Son of God.

All that have believed in Jesus must understand that by believing in Him, they have eternal life. He did not say they might or at some future time receive this life after death. It is a present possession of all who believe. This life is eternal and it cannot experience death, or it would be called something else other than eternal life. This kind of life is not mortal life as is our physical life that ends at death. It is impossible not to have eternal life, and not to be saved for time and eternity because of the truth outlined in John 5:24. This specific statement should be sufficient (that you have eternal life), but it is followed by another statement. The one who believes shall not come into condemnation. This judgment for sin fell upon Jesus Christ on the cross; therefore no judgment awaits the one who believes in Him. The one who shall not come into judgment is saved and is saved now, that is today, and not tomorrow! Meditate on the clarity and depth of this wonderful truth.

If these statements were not enough, there is a third statement that declares the present saved condition of the individual who believes in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! This believer has passed from death unto eternal life. This powerful statement means nothing less than having passed from the state of being lost (death) into the state of being saved (life). This is an accomplished God centered fact; therefore rest in his truth and not in your rationalizations, speculations, and doubts.

In view of these three statements, attested to by the Son of God Himself, there can be absolutely no question whatsoever as to the present salvation of every one who believes in Him.

The only question that can possibly raise a doubt in any person’s mind is, have I Believed in the Savior who saves, and that is the impeccable Son of God!

To BELIEVE is to depend upon the veracity of God’s word and to count on Him to do what He has promised He WILL DO! To believe is to depend upon Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins and includes a biblical change of mind as to who and what saves the soul. This change of mind is not related to your attitude toward sin or any work that you may perform. Christ paid for all sin by His death on the cross and all works required for salvation were finished. He did not begin a work and then assign you the responsibility of completing His redemptive work. He did not run a great distance, then stop, and ask you to complete the assignment.

When you receive Christ as savior you then have spiritual eyes to see, and a mind that is designed by God to serve.

You then serve because you are saved and not because you hope to be saved by your new or best behavior.

This privilege of service is an intensely personal matter between God and the new believer. But of primary importance and the principal first cause is that no one should have any degree of doubt as to whether or not he or she has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe in Him, not in self or anything outside of self, or anything that self can do, has done, and can do, except to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as the exclusive and only savior.

This statement of truth not only provides assurance as to a sure and present salvation; it also assures the believing individual that there can be no future failure in his salvation and permanent position in Christ. The one who has received eternal life cannot die spiritually and subsequently be lost. The believer in Jesus Christ shall not come from a lost state, into a saved state, and become lost again! Why? Because, it is in God’s righteous judgment that the Lost are declared to be forever separated from God. Not lost, saved, and then lost again.

The one who has passed from death unto life has passed from the domain of Satan into the kingdom of the Son of God and that kingdom is sealed for all eternity and is not subject to change.

Please know with all assurance, all human works have been forever set aside and God’s so great salvation is offered, exclusively, and only as a gift of God!

Therefore, no payments to purchase his redemption for past, present or future graces or sins will be accepted. If this were not so, the grace of God would no longer be grace, it would be a devil inspired system of works which are an affront to the grace of God.

In whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13).

It is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

In contemplating the greatness of God’s so great salvation it can only be measured or evaluated by the infinite and eternal character of God. It is outside the scope and abilities of needy human beings. If anyone who has been saved can be lost it would be impossible because there would be a time limit associated with God’s so great salvation. If an individual who was truly saved remained in a saved condition for only a few years and then became lost, salvation would be only a temporal work and would improperly be called eternal or everlasting life. If His work is only a temporal probationary work no one could possibly have any assurance of eternal life. But God!! God Says that it is eternal!

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him, (Hebrews 5:9).

To obey him is to be obedient to His word by believing on the only savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Your best behavior will never merit or secure God’s so great salvation, it is in His hands, not in yours, and especially not in a human behavior that is relative, and has no connection with the life you are given the moment Christ is received as savior.

All things that God does in saving a human being are of such a nature that the possibility of failure at any point is shut out forever. Redemption from the penalty of the law was by the incorruptible blood of Jeus Christ and His sacrificial cross work. This redemption price can never lose its impeccable value. It assures and guarantees final and eternal redemption.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews (9:12).

The redeemed believer in Christ can never again become guilty and condemned under the law. Justification is by God crediting the infinite righteousness of Christ to the one who believes. It is impossible to find the slightest flaw in this perfect righteousness because it is His righteousness that becomes ours, and all of the best that comes from imperfect human beings can never be sufficient to save the eternal soul.

This imputed perfection was made possible because man’s sins were reckoned or added to the account of Jesus Christ, and He paid the penalty in full. All of the demands of God’s justice were totally satisfied by the exclusive sacrifice of the impeccable Savior Jesus Christ.

There can never be any charge brought against any person who has been justified by His perfect work.

When the justice of God has been satisfied nothing whatsoever can limit or remove the protection of His love and grace. All who are redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God are unremittingly subject to His grace which is the full expression of His infinite love. These redeemed ones are the objects of God’s infinite power and protection. This infinite power is the same power that He exercised in raising Jesus from the dead, and setting Him far above all things in heavenly places.

By means of the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit, a believer in Jesus Christ is born into The Royal Family of God just as by natural birth humans are born into the human race. The new spiritual life which is brought forth from above through the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit immediately partakes of the divine nature of God and therefore cannot sin: Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is brought forth by God (1 John3:9). Which were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). It was sin that separated mankind from God, but because the imputed spiritual life cannot sin, it can never be separated from God.

The born-again believer is a new creation in which the inherent law declares: grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ.

That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:21).

Every soul who is reconciled to God by the finished work of Jesus Christ SHALL BE PRESERVED BY HIS PRESENT LIFE IN HEAVEN where HE ever lives to intercede on their behalf.

Salvation is EXCLUSIVELY of and from God. So also, it is exclusively by GRACE and therefore totally unmerited by man.

Fallible humans can contribute nothing toward their own salvation. Therefore, there is no point at which there can be any failure.

Salvation of the one who believes in Jesus Christ is as certain and as enduring as is God Himself.

There are many passages in the word of God that declare the certainty of salvation but only one is more than sufficient to convey to the believer all of the clarity and power necessary to be assured of what God does to save and keep the Child of God secure throughout all eternity.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all; and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand (John 10: 27-29).

Just a moments contemplation on this powerful portion of scripture will enable any doubting believer to look at the security and assurance that emanates from the very mind of God Himself. This security does not come from looking at self or the best that can be contributed by self; it comes from looking outside of self to the veracity that is contained in the inerrant, reliable, and believable word of God.

In view of these deep truths, how can anyone question his personal salvation, and whether or not he has been saved for all eternity? To doubt these truths will require all of the darkness and unbelief that all unbelievers can ever muster. So sad, so tragic, so damnable. So damnable forever, and ever!

The good news is: He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36).