WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR

ASSURANCE OF SALVATION?

by Dr. R. Larry Moyer

Clearly understanding the biblical basis of assurance is vital not only to understanding salvation, but also to subsequent growth in the Christian life. It is when people understand the security found in their relationship with Christ that they are prepared to experience the dynamic of spiritual growth.

Some Christians often struggle with what is commonly referred to as eternal security. They sometimes hear others adamantly insist that "once saved, always saved" cannot be biblical. Too often this conclusion was arrived at from a study of Christians instead of a study of Scripture. Seeing Christians whose lives do not maintain a certain standard, some cannot fathom that such persons would remain saved – and part-owners of heaven. They overlook three things. First, God’s offer of eternal life is not based on our performance; it is based on His. Second, to take away the eternality from the gift is to take away the gift. God’s offer is not an offer of life, but an offer of eternal life. Third, since that offer is backed by the power of God, one can clearly see why it is eternal. The One who saves us apart from what we do is big enough to keep us apart from what we do.

Deity is so closely tied to the gift of eternal life that to deny the eternality of the gift is in essence to deny the deity of Christ. When speaking to individuals who do not believe in eternal security, we must determine whether they understand the Gospel. There are those who, having previously trusted their good works to get them to heaven, progress to the point of trusting Christ and their good works to get them to heaven. No one is ever saved until one comes to the point of trusting Christ alone for salvation. When the substitutionary death of Christ and His resurrection are understood, the security of the believer, besides being biblically proclaimed, makes sense. If nothing we do obtains eternal life other than receiving it as a gift, it stands to reason that nothing we do keeps it. Otherwise the gift is not a gift. God extends to us nothing less than the free and guaranteed gift of eternal life upon faith in Christ.

I spoke with a young woman at the end of an evangelistic service. As we talked, she explained that she felt Christ is the way to heaven but did not believe that once saved you could never lose salvation. Taking the Bible and showing her several verses in the gospel of John, I explained that salvation is not granted on the basis of Christ making a bargain by saying, "If I do this for you, what will you do for Me?" Instead He is offering a gift and saying, "May I give you heaven?" Since we do nothing other than to receive it, we do nothing to keep it. We are eternally secure because God does not save us based on our performance, but based on His Son’s performance. It was as though a light came on for her! We prayed together, and she told God she was trusting Christ alone to take her to heaven and embarked on a path of steady spiritual growth. A year later I asked her, "When you reflect upon that night, do you feel you simply gained assurance of your salvation or did you actually trust Christ that night?" Her answer was most revealing: "There’s no doubt in my mind I was saved that night. I realize that previously I had been trusting Christ and my works to get me to heaven instead of Christ alone."

I once asked a relative who struggled with eternal security, "What would I have to do for God not to save me?" I suggested things such as stealing one thousand dollars to stealing ten million dollars, murdering one person to what has become all too familiar, gunning down a crowd of people. He confessed that God can save a person regardless of what he has done if he simply comes to Him as a sinner. There is no sinner that God cannot save. I then remarked, "But what you’re saying by your disbelief in eternal security is that He’ll save you regardless of what you’ve done in the past but toss you back based on how you perform now." I vividly remember his facial expression as he said, "I guess I’ve never thought about that before."

When I’m speaking with either someone who is struggling with eternal security because he or she has not come to completely understand the Gospel or with someone I sense may be trusting Christ and works to get to heaven, I’ve found this illustration helpful. I draw three circles. One stands for works, the second stands for Christ and works, and the third stands for Christ alone.

I then explain, "There are some people who trust in their works to get them to heaven." Pointing to the second circle, I say, "There are some who trust Christ and their works to get them to heaven." Pointing to the third, I say, "There are some who trust Christ alone to get them to heaven. Where are you?"

Those who do not understand the Gospel usually point to the middle circle. If they do, I explain as I point to the first circle, "When people are trusting their works to get them to heaven, they are saying, ‘Christ’s death was totally unnecessary.’ After all, if any amount of anything we did could get us to heaven, God was foolish and cruel to allow His Son to suffer such an agonizing death on the cross." Pointing to the second circle, I comment, "If we are relying on Christ and works to get us to heaven, we are telling God, ‘Your Son’s death on the cross was a big disappointment. I have to finish what He started – paying for my sins. He paid for some of my sins; I have to pay for the rest.’" As I point to the third circle, I explain, "If we are trusting Christ alone to get us to heaven, we are agreeing with God that His Son’s death was sufficient to pay for everything wrong we’ve done." I then explain that we are never saved until we are relying on Christ and Christ alone as our only means of salvation. Christ did not make the down payment for our sins; He made the full payment as He said in John 19:30, "It is finished." It is exciting when people begin to see the beauty of God’s grace in providing a means of salvation.

Others insist that their struggle does not concern eternal security. Instead their difficulty concerns what is sometimes referred to as the perseverance of the believer. Perseverance means continuing as a Christian (pray, go to church, study the Bible, etc.). Many believe that if people do not persevere in Christian living, they were never Christians in the first place. As the previous study revealed, Scripture does not approach assurance on the basis of good conduct. If one examines salvation on the basis of actions, conduct, and feelings, one will never be sure.

The simple question, "Have I trusted Christ as my only basis for a right standing with God?" must be asked first. Only when one has trusted Christ alone can someone then rightly ask, "Why am I not growing?" As he or she thinks that through or receives the counsel of others, the person may find several things that are hindering the spiritual walk. Dealing with those hindrances appropriately, one can once again grow in the Lord.

One other item that results from a careful study of assurance deserves mention. Some stress that individuals are Christians only if they know the date they were saved. As noted in our study of saving faith, when Scripture gives assurance of salvation, it goes back to a fact, not a date. If a person is trusting Christ alone to get to heaven, regardless of when and where he or she "crossed the line," he or she is eternally His. Many know the date; others don’t. Undoubtedly still others are wrong about the date.

I often use a story to illustrate this point. Having grown up in Pennsylvania, I moved to Dallas, Texas, to attend graduate school. I met my wife and settled there. Let’s suppose she and I were returning to Pennsylvania to visit my family. When we cross the state line, it is nighttime. I am driving and my wife is sleeping. When she awakens, she sees a sign that says "Harrisburg Cafe." Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. Does the fact that only I know the moment and place we crossed the line change the fact that we are both in Pennsylvania? Not in the least! Similarly, just because one person knows the date and place he or she was saved and another does not, it does not change the fact that they are both saved. When Scripture discusses God’s free and guaranteed offer of eternal life, it goes back to a fact, not to a date.

Nowhere does this become more important than when dealing with children. Consider children who come to know Christ when they are five or six years old. Sooner or later as their understanding increases, they comprehend better the meaning of what Christ did for them on a cross. At those times they may wonder whether or not they understood salvation earlier and were actually saved. The way parents respond to them at those times is often dangerous. Remembering a date or time when the young person said a prayer or walked an aisle, they respond, "But don’t you remember what you did on such-and-such?" The fact is, they often do not. Besides, that can be very faulty ground for assurance. No one can relive history. Suppose what a parent thought happened – that the child trusted Christ – did not actually happen. A child needs to be reminded that if he or she is trusting Christ to get to heaven, he or she is saved, even though the initial moment of trusting may not have been as early as the child or the parents thought.

Some use the analogy of a birth certificate. Should you ask an individual, "Whose child are you?" he or she will most likely give a parent’s name. If you then ask, "How do you know that?" he or she may reply, "My mother had me," "They told me so," "I grew up in their family," or something similar. None of those reasons is an absolute guarantee that he or she belongs to the parents, since human beings can lie. If one keeps pressing and says, "You have one proof that you are their child that would stand up in a court of law; what is it?" he or she will answer, "A birth certificate." That’s right. A single piece of paper is assurance of being a certain person’s son or daughter. God too has given us a sheet of paper, far better than a birth certificate because it is without error. He wants us to take His Word in the Scripture that having trusted Christ, we can rely on Him to keep the promise of John 5:24. Having trusted Christ, we need to trust the Word.

After such a study as this, one might ask, "But when people see evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives, should they not be encouraged that they are indeed Christians?" Most definitely. But nowhere is that the basis upon which to determine whether we are saved, and understandably so. Should believers stray from God, their lives may not bear the fruit it otherwise would. Such people need to be alarmed, but if they are believers, their lack of growth is the problem, not their salvation. Also, the life of people may give evidence of what many would call "the Holy Spirit at work," while all their good works may be deeds done in the flesh – deeds they are depending on to get them to heaven.

We often hear that nothing in life is guaranteed. The Scriptures prove that to be untrue. God guarantees that if we will trust Christ, nothing on earth or in heaven will change our eternal destiny. We are His forever. As Paul so emphatically declared:

I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, not height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) ¢