ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

“God saved you
by his grace when you believed.
And you can’t take credit for this;
it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward
for the good things we have done,
so none of us can boast about it.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT
~~~~~

Some people, for whatever reason, have concluded that there is no life after death. They believe when they die it’s all over – they cease to exist. Those who believe in reincarnation think they once lived as someone else, and when they die they expect to come back again as someone else – hopefully someone better. Ideas like these come from the father of lies.

The Scriptures clearly teach that we are created in the image of God, and like God the spiritual part of us exists forever – either in heaven or in hell. In Matthew 25:31-33 Jesus, teaching about the final judgment says, “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.” Then in verse 46 equating the goats with the unrighteous and the sheep with the righteous he adds, “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” Jesus came to this world, died and rose again, so we could have the privilege of choosing between eternal punishment and eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13 says, “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” It’s not hard to see which is the best choice.

As clear as such scriptures are, there still are some Christians who can’t say with full assurance that they are going to heaven. They come up with a weak “I hope so.” Why is that? Here are two basic reasons. Not remembering a specific time when we accepted Christ. However, knowing that we are now trusting him as savior, is more important than remembering a time or place. The other common reason for the lack of assurance is thinking we have to be good enough to go to heaven. We can never be good enough!! “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

Turn up your sound and click on > BLESSED ASSURANCE