Assurance of Salvation

I have listened to different people both in the Israel Truth movement and outside of the movement who have expressed apprehension about meeting God in judgment. They have said they do not know if they are righteous enough to enter the Kingdom of God. The problem is that they are asking themselves the wrong question.

The question they should be asking themselves is: “Will the shed blood of Jesus Christ be sufficient to make me acceptable to God?” In this life we can never measure up to God’s requirements for righteousness. He demands absolute perfection and does not accept anything less. Only the sacrifice of His only begotten Son is enough to cleanse us completely of our sins. In all of human history there has only been one human being who has fulfilled God’s requirements for righteousness; that is Jesus Christ. For the rest of us it says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23. However, for Christians the promise is that we are, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” Romans 3:24-25. We do not rely on our own righteousness to be accepted by God, but on the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Are we righteous enough to enter the Kingdom of God? No! However, we shall enter that Kingdom if we believe and trust in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Another error I have heard even preached from the pulpit is that we will not know if we have eternal life until we appear before God in judgment. The apostle John wrote in one of his epistles, “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.” I John 5:13. Yes, the Bible says that we have eternal life guaranteed if we believe and trust in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Do we believe the Bible? We do not need to come trembling in fear before God, not knowing if He will accept us. Instead, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16. God wants us to be sure of his forgiveness and to boldly claim it because that means we are trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. God gave up his only begotten Son to a horrible death and He expects us to trust in that sacrifice and to believe that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to please God. There is no other way to have eternal life.

In the time of Moses twelve spies were sent to scout out the Promised Land. Ten of them came back and said they were unworthy to take the land. Let us not be like those ten unbelieving men. Let us go with boldness before God and say we are able to possess the Kingdom because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Let us say that we are able to inherit eternal life because of His sacrifice on the cross.

Do we flagrantly disobey God because we have forgiveness of our sins? “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:2. There is a life long struggle between our spirits and our bodies. We have spirits that are born of God’s Spirit, but bodies from Adam and Eve. Our spirits are holy; our bodies are morally weak and sinful. Our spirits have humbled themselves to God and the controlling power of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies lust after worldly pleasures. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5: 17. The battle between flesh and spirit goes on to the end of our lives but we still enter the Kingdom after all is said and done. Jesus made sure of that. Our assurance rests on Him.