Friday, October 23, 2009

Blessed Assurance: How to Know?

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. (I John 5:13 ESV)

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end.
(Heb. 6:11 ESV)

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
(II Cor. 13:5 ESV)

You're giving a talk to the youth of your church (6th - 12th grade) and their parents. Your topic - The Assurance of Salvation: Ya Got It?

OK, so now what? What resources would you reference in your preparation? What references might you suggest and recommend to the parents to go through with their youth?

And what would you say to these kids about assurance? Can you have it? Keep it? How to fight against the doubt of one's salvation? How can you be sure that you're even saved in the first place?

Love to hear your thoughts.

3 Comments:

At 11/04/2009 3:12 PM, Blogger Puritan Lad said...

First of all, I would clearly present the gospel, because I would not want to merely assume that anyone in my audience is saved. But for those who have believed, and yet doubt the assurance of salvation, I would focus on two areas.

1.) The futility of the alternative, that being justification by works. How much is enough? When have I done enough to be saved?

2.) The nature of adoption. Our Father did not merely predestine us to some temporary justification, or even only to sanctification, but to adoption. We are now His, and nothing can take us out of His hand.

I would also clarify the nature of true belief, lest the doctrine os eternal security be misused to teach "fire insurance for the wicked".

 
At 12/14/2009 11:53 AM, Blogger The Blainemonster said...

A great book on this subject is "Doubt and Assurance", edited by R.C. Sproul.

 
At 5/29/2011 3:28 PM, Blogger Bellarubia18 said...

I would stress faith alone in Christ alone. That IS the Bible. Once saved always saved ALSO is the Bible, contrary to popular Christian myth. This is simply because it is the OBJECT of our faith--Christ...who saves us. He did the whole thing...we add nothing to the Cross. There is no idea in the entire Bible that says that once Christ Himself saves us, we can lose salvation to Heaven.
Alot of people don't realize that there is more than one kind of salvation in the Bible. The salvation that gets you to Heaven is the foundation of our faith. Can't lose that. Once you have that foundation, you need to be built...spiritually mature in Christ. That's why we are here after salvation to Heaven.
People who think there is only one kind of salvation mentioned in the Bible will take scriptures meant for unbelievers and apply them to believers and vice versa.
The progress we make AFTER salvation to Heaven CAN be lost..this is the main theme of the epistles. Doesn't mean we go to hell, but we're essentially "out of the race", not "fighting the good fight"...so lose our rewards in Heaven. (such as by refusing to be made over into Christ/refusing to confess or sins to Him and be purified from all wrong-doing(1 John 1:9).
So there's alot that can be lost if we deny fellowship with God here on earth...but our salvation to Heaven CANNOT be lost once we believe in Christ. So, if we abuse grace continuously and don't repent(as believers), WHERE we spend eternity doesn't change(due to Christ's righteousness being imputed to us), but what we do there will.

 

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