One of our greatest needs in serving God is a feeling of confidence regarding our present acceptance by God and future home in heaven. Unfortunately, this assurance is sadly lacking among many of God’s people. Extremes are taken in both directions (“once saved – always saved” …. “cannot know for sure until judgment”). A balanced, biblical view is needed.<\/p>\n
A good summary on the subject of assurance is found in I Peter 1:5. We are “protected by the power of God through faith<\/em>.” This verse emphasizes God’s faithfulness and the Christian’s faith as essential elements in assurance.<\/p>\n As for God’s part, He will never forsake the faithful saint or cast him aside (Hebrews 10:13). He will provide all the resources we need to protect us from our enemies, including the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, prayer, the church with its fellowship, etc. (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:31-39; I Corinthians 10:13; II Thessalonians 3:3; I John 4:4).<\/p>\n Romans 5:1-11 shows the extent to which God has gone to save us (this passage should be read, digested, and meditated upon). If God\u00a0had given us the ultimate gift, His Son, while we were his enemies<\/strong>, He would certainly not have failed\u00a0us now that we are His friends<\/strong>. Is God’s love for His friends less than for those who hate him? The point of this passage is assurance – for if God’s love for those who were sinful and unreconciled was so strong that He gave His only Son, will He not do even more for those who are now justified and reconciled?<\/p>\n This short expression shows that assurance is not absolute and unconditional. God’s grace is received through man’s faith (Ephesians 2:8-10). As long as we continue to trust God’s gracious promises, He will keep us in His grace. If we cease to submit in trust, then by our own decision, we cut ourselves off from Him (Galatians 5:4).<\/p>\n The fact that God’s protection is ours “through faith<\/em>” leads to a second conclusion: that our assurance of salvation is not conditioned upon works of merit. We are justified by faith apart from works measured by law (Romans 3:28). Knowing that we are justified by faith is the real key to assurance.<\/p>\n Of course, to be justified means to be at peace with God and free from condemnation (Romans 8:1). To be justified by faith means that this peace and freedom are not conditioned on how good we are but on our continuing trust in the all-sufficient blood of Christ. To put it another way, our sense of assurance derives from knowing we are justified by Christ’s blood, not from having achieved a certain level of sanctification. The question is not “How good am I?” but “How forgiven am I?” And we know that we who are faithful have been one hundred percent forgiven ever since our baptism because of Christ.<\/p>\n Knowing this gives us hope (Romans 5:2; Colossians 1:27). Not hope in the sense of “wishing” for something, but having a confident expectation that heaven is our home. This leads to the final thought – “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure<\/em>” (I John 3:3). \u00b7<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Mark Nitz via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 31, 1987 One of our greatest needs in serving God is a feeling of confidence regarding our present acceptance by God and future home in heaven. Unfortunately, this assurance is sadly lacking among many of God’s people. Extremes are taken in both directions (“once…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[757,250,49,186],"class_list":["post-84588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-assurance","tag-confidence","tag-faith","tag-protection"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59522,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-search-for-assurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":84588,"position":0},"title":"The Search for Assurance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Paul Earnhart It was a discussion between preacher friends.\u00a0 We were wrestling with the question of how confident Christians ought to be, moment by moment, about their salvation. Some were arguing for absolute assurance, others for a more cautious one. There is perhaps no concern that weaves its way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61870,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/blessed-assurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":84588,"position":1},"title":"Blessed Assurance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 10:19-26 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you died at this very moment, would the Lord place you in Heaven or Hell? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Most would answer, \u201cI hope it would be in Heaven.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet the answer lacks confidence. They are not certain. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But why not? Who else would know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83273,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/assurance-of-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":84588,"position":2},"title":"Assurance of Salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"So, any Christian who keeps the faith never has to be worried about their salvation. Once Saved, Always Saved is not in the Bible. Assurance of salvation is. We can know that we have eternal life\" [from a comment received]. The key here is \"keeping the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89121,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/eternal-security-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":84588,"position":3},"title":"Eternal Security","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The writer of Hebrews talks about \"full assurance of faith\" and warns about developing \"an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.\" Therefore, a Christian can be assured of their salvation and \"make their calling and election sure\" (II Peter 1:5-12), while acknowledging\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59526,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-security-of-the-believer\/","url_meta":{"origin":84588,"position":4},"title":"The Security of the Believer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert F. Turner via\u00a0Guardian of Truth, October 1985 There seems to be a resurgence of interest in \"security\" perhaps due to emphasis upon \"grace\" and both subjects are worthy of our consideration. Because of earlier battles with Calvinists on grace, faith only, and \"once saved, always saved,\" certain prejudices\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55069,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/assurance-of-our-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":84588,"position":5},"title":"Assurance of Our Salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Sharp \"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Protected by the Power of God.<\/h2>\n
Through Faith<\/h2>\n