His Assurance, Not Ours

No one can lose, give up, return, hand back or in any other form deny or be denied their salvation, all other ideas concerning this are false and are held by those who believe that what they do not own or possess, what belongs to God, (Deut. 10:14) is actually under their control and power.

Once you become a child of God, a born-again believer, you have become a bond slave, a servant, and that “construct,” if you like, can never be annulled. Works based religions are maintained as such to exert control over those who defer to them for the “proper” interpretation of the Word of God, and the sword that they hang over their heads is that of eternal damnation unless the prescribed ideologies of that organization are adhered to. The Charismatic movement is no different, save in this regard, emotions become the works, how they interpret their feelings, which is generally quite poorly, is how they presume the state of their salvation.

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28) That means you also.

You have either been saved by grace through faith, or you have not, and if you have it will be clearly seen by all that meet you by the fruits of the Spirit, (Gal. 5:22-23) if there are no works of grace, (Romans 11:6) then you are not going to heaven when you die, pure and simple, just like the Scriptures. But there is one particular ploy that not only our adversary uses upon us, but we ourselves place in front of us on a fairly regular basis, at least for some, and that is the assurance of our salvation. And for many who refuse to study to show themselves approved, (2 Tim. 2:15) this is all it takes.

It is why the Roman Catholic Institution and all of their sub-branches maintain a continuous order of works, repeated throughout the life of the participant, it is why the Charismatics are instructed that an emotional response is important to a continued fellowship with the Most High, and it is why every single person who has not been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20) believes that what they do, or do not do, is important for salvation. Jesus paid it all, not one person that has ever lived can add one single thing to the cross, not one thought, not a lifetime of works, no love that you can offer brings anything to what God required for man to be able to enter into His presence. The sacrifice needed to be perfect, continuously, not one sin, not one blemish, not one spot, and it needed to be offered willingly without reservation, in hopes of nothing, but in obedience to the will of God for the glory of God.

The emotion of the loss of the assurance of our salvation is just that, a temporary emotion based on a temporary action, thought, or deed done outside of the known will of God, it is the action of disobedience, the knowledge of it, and the inability to believe and apply 1 John 1:9 to our lives. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You cannot commit a sin after your salvation that would remove that free gift from you, God does not take back what He has freely given, but He does expect results, and without any visible results, the person does not need to question their assumed assurance, for they are not saved in the first place.

No one can return what does not belong to them. So those who have visible fruits of the Spirit, and have on occasion experienced the assurance of their salvation slipping away, as it were, must seek and ask to be shown the unrepented sin in their lives, and when we confess of that, our fellowship is renewed.

How we feel is of much less concern to the Lord than what we do. “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22)

And so it is quite easy to see the plan of Satan in this area, just look at the inverse of anything in the Scriptures relative to holiness and you will have a very clear picture of our adversary, and then you will be able to use your shield of faith correctly. (Eph. 6:16) If you are crucified with Christ, you are dead, dead men have no rights, no abilities, no ability to act on their own, but they can do all things through Christ. (Phil. 4:13) “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1 Cor. 9:27) That means our minds, for it is with our minds that the flesh is controlled, and it is with our minds that we submit to the will of God.

To believe that He who loves us enough to send His Son to die for us would either remove His grace from us or allow us to cast the greatest gift of grace back at His feet is beyond ridiculous, and those who believe that either can be done are either deceived or unable to not only discern the Scriptures correctly, but are unable to comprehend the reason for the price that was paid for us. No one is good enough to be saved, not by all the works that they may do in their entire lifetime, or even by one single work, and no thought or action can cause the Lord to disavow His truths toward us in salvation. The merit lies upon Christ, and He is perfect, we need only to rest assured in His perfection and holiness.