|
"Assurance of Salvation"
A Lesson by
Rev. E. Ray Shutt,
Minister of Evangelism/Bus Director
Berean Baptist
Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
When a person gets saved, the devil knows that
person can no longer be condemned by sin! He knows
that he has "lost a soul" from his grips and that
person is now a child of God FOREVER! But what he
will do is try to cause that new born babe in Christ
to doubt God's Word and to think that when they sin,
they are no longer saved. He will do all he can to
cause doubts and fears to arise in the life of the
child of God!
It is therefore, OUR RESPONSIBILITY to teach those
that we lead to Christ about the blessed assurance
of our great Salvation!
It is for that reason that this lesson is being made
available to you to use freely as the Lord God gives
opportunity! Helps your Bus Riders to not only know
"HOW" to be saved, but teach them how "TO KNOW" they
are KEPT SAVED from the Word of God!
Wouldn't it be a frightening thought to think that
the devil could "unsave us" after God had saved us??
But many people have this thought and begin to doubt
their Salvation simply because they do not know what
God's Word plainly teaches us about the "eternal
gift of God" called Salvation.
And think about this...."IF" the devil could "unsave
us" after God had saved us, then that would make the
devil more powerful that God, wouldn't it? And it
would also mean that God is a LIAR, because He
promises "ETERNAL LIFE" to those who
call upon Him for Salvation in John 3:16-18 and in
Romans 10:9-13. And "IF" God is a Liar, then He is
in actuality NO BETTER THAN THE DEVIL!
And "IF" that be true, then we would have no hope of
Salvation from the penalty of sin which is eternal
separation from God in a place prepared for the
devil and his angels called Hell! Oh, what a
miserable life we would have "IF" this were true!!
But all Glory and Praise be unto God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, in that He has given us His
written Word TO PROVE that we can KNOW that we are
saved!!
Let's look and see what God's Word has to say about
all this...
Now that YOU are saved, you need to be “SURE” of
your Salvation and in whom you have placed your
Faith and Trust! But “HOW” can a person be SURE and
CERTAIN that they are Saved? How do we KNOW that
God will keep His Word and “KEEP” us saved after we
trust Him as our Saviour?
The answer is quite simple…we “KNOW” that we are
kept saved by the same Word of God that showed us
HOW to be saved in the first place!
The Apostle John wrote in the book of 1st
John chapter 5 these verses….
1 John 5:11 says, “And
this is the record, that God hath given
to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son.” And in 1 John 5:12 we read, “He that
hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life.” 1John 5:13 says, “These
things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye
may believe on the name of the Son of God.”1 John
5:14 “And this is the confidence that we have
in him, that, if we ask any thing according
to his will, he heareth us:”
Paul wrote to young Timothy the following words… 2
Timothy 1:12 “For the which cause I also suffer
these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for
I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day.”
Paul had “CONFIDENCE” in God and in God’s Word
because He knew that God could NOT Lie!!
Numbers 23:19 reminds us
that, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither
the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said,
and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good?”
Paul knew that God COULD NOT LIE, therefore Paul
knew He could depend upon the Word of God! He
explained this to Titus in Titus chapter 1…Titus
1:2 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
The
Apostle Paul KNEW that He could depend upon God’s
Word because He knew that God had a “PLAN” for
Paul’s life that began with him getting saved!
In 2 Peter 3:9 we learn that, “The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance.”
That same
confidence that Paul and the other Apostles and
disciples had in God and especially in God’s Word is
what YOU will need so as to KNOW FOR SURE that you
are a child of God! God wants us TO KNOW that we are
saved, but much more than that, God wants us to KNOW
HOW WE ARE SAVED and how we are KEPT SAVED from day
to day!
The Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter chapter 1….1
Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter
1:4 “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you,” 1Peter 1:5 “Who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time.”
We CAN
trust God’s Precious and Holy Word!! Here are just
a few verses to PROVE to you that we can TRUST GOD
in “knowing” we are saved.
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and
let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.”
* * * * *
John 1:12 “But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name:”
* * * * *
John 3:16 “For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.” John 3:17 “For God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved.” John
3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.”
* * * * *
John 3:36 “He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.”
* * * * *
John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from death
unto life.”
* * * * *
John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
* * * * *
John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me:” John 10:28
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand.” John 10:29 “My Father, which gave them
me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand.”
* * * * *
Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house.”
* * * * *
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
* * * * *
Romans 8:35 “Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:36 “As it is written,
For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Romans 8:37
“Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:38
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come,” Romans8:39 “Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
* * * * *
Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
* * * * *
Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
* * * * *
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.”
* * * * *
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God:” Ephesians 2:9 “Not of works,
lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:10 “For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:11 “Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which
is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by
hands;” Ephesians 2:12 “That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world:” Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ.”
* * * * *
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of
this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ:”
* * * * *
Titus 3:5 “Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” Titus
3:6 “Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour;”
* * * * *
1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to
his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead,” 1 Peter 1:4 “To an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you,” 1 Peter 1:5 “Who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
* * * * *
1 John 5:11 “And this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son.” 1 John 5:12 “He that hath the
Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.” 1 John 5:13 “These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God.” 1 John 5:14 “And this is the confidence that
we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according
to his will, he heareth us:”
Aren't you glad we can TRUST God's Word? Aren't you
glad that we have the very Word of the God of the
Universe who will not only save us from the penalty
of sin, but will also KEEP us saved from the penalty
of sin? Oh, Thank God for the precious Word of God
that gives us the Assurance of our Salvation through
simple faith in the atoning Blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ that was freely shed for the sins of the
whole world! Thank God that we can KNOW that we are
not only Saved, but we are indeed KEPT SAVED through
the power of God!! |
