Christianity From A to Z

By Christopher Andrus

An introduction to a Christian perspective on 26 topics. They are as follows:

Absolute Assurance of Salvation on Account of the Atoning Work of Jesus Christ

Believing in God is All He Requires to be Saved

Celebrating the Salvation of Sinners Li

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christopher Andrus
• Release date: Feb 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578835969

Book preview

Absolute Assurance of Salvation on Account of the Atoning Work of Jesus Christ

And I will always love you. Woo oo oo oo oo.

(Dolly Parton song, as sung by Whitney Houston. God sings the same to all of God's children.)

Have you come to a place in your life where you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to Heaven? This question is the beginning of a popular evangelistic presentation developed by D. James Kennedy in the 1980's.

Not surprisingly, most people answer No. Some say that it's a meaningless question because we know that there is no Heaven and no life after death. If this is your view, I would simply ask: How do you know?

Others will accept that there is a Heaven that we can reach after we die (and many also recognize that there is also a Hell). But they will not express certainty that they will get there. Yet, if Heaven exists and if it could be known for certain that I will go there when I die wouldn't this be the most important piece of knowledge that any human being could have?

It may surprise some of you to know that there are millions of people who answer Yes to the question at the top of the page. We have become convinced first that there is a Creator God, second that this God has promised to create a Kingdom of Heaven and invites all who are willing to enter it, and third that it is possible for people to know that they will dwell in this Kingdom when their time in this world is over. It can even be said that such people will never die from their point-of-view. They will die from the point-of-view of those around them, unless they are alive when Jesus Christ returns to bring the Kingdom to us. But, either way, such people will immediately enter the Kingdom of Heaven as soon as their life in this world ends.

When a thief who had been crucified along with Jesus of Nazareth outside of Jerusalem about 2000 years ago asked Him to remember Him when He entered into His Kingdom Jesus said to him: Today you will be with Me in Paradise. (Luke 23:43) This is a promise that God offers to all of us that will apply on the last day of our life here. How can this be?

It can be because an All-Powerful God can do whatever He wishes.¹ And the amazing message of the Bible is that the Almighty Creator and Lord of the universe wanted to create a race of beings to have an everlasting love relationship with them in the same way that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit loved each other before God created the universe. And, though this race of beings, the human race, would take the freedom that God had created them to have (something that is necessary for a true two-way love relationship) and rebel against God, this could not defeat God's Great Plan for humanity.

So before God created the universe God planned to add created beings to the love triangle of the Father, Son and Spirit. And having created us God also wants His children to know the plans that He has for us. It can be said that this was the main reason that God gave us the Bible. 1 John 5:13 says: 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. (Emphasis added)

God wants His children to know that you will be My people and I will be your God. (Jeremiah 30:22) And this will be forever. As Jeremiah 32:40 says: I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 says this:

The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the LORD. This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the LORD. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 8 Jeremiah's coming day is announced as having arrived. And the New Covenant both fulfills God's promises to Israel and also includes all who put their faith in Jesus, the Messiah (or Savior).

Perhaps the greatest statement on the subject of the Assurance of Salvation is that found in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 18. So let's take a brief look at it.

1. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation (which hope of theirs shall perish): yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.

The Westminster Confession statement begins by describing people with false assurance; that is, people who think they are in God's favor, but are not (or, at least, they aren’t yet). It then expresses that it is possible for all believers to get to a point in which they are certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and my rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. The latter phrase refers to the fact that the assurance that is available to believers is not only absolute, it is permanent. This assurance, however, is not automatic with all believers. Yet it is attainable and should be sought, as it is most desirable.

It is possible for people to be deceived in thinking that they are saved when they aren’t. But an infallible assurance that one is saved is possible for all true believers. And it is important to note that this also means that no one can be completely deceived that they are saved when they actually aren’t. Anyone who is not saved must have at least some doubt that they are saved no matter how much they may claim that they are. Otherwise we could all be deceived about this and infallible assurance wouldn't be possible.

2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God, which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.

This section of the Westminster Confession points to 3 things that make it possible for believers to know for certain that we are saved forever. First, it is possible to have absolute assurance that one has been saved forever because God’s saving work done by Jesus Christ actually saves us, if we are one of God's children. It doesn’t just make salvation possible, depending on what we do or don't do. So our assurance is in what God has already done to save us. It is not based on us remaining faithful to Christ. For this is something which we could never be certain about unless God actually guaranteed it! And, praise be to God, God DOES guarantee this!

Second, all true believers will be able to see evidence in their lives that they are being sanctified. Despite many set-backs and areas of ongoing sinfulness that all believers will have, the overall arc of all true Christians' lives will be able to be seen both by ourselves and others to bend upward in the direction of greater and greater holiness. If this is not evident, then one has not yet been saved. As Jesus put it: "We know a tree by its fruit."

Third, there is a direct testimony by the Holy Spirit, Who dwells inside of all of God’s true children that we truly belong to Him and will forever.

3. This infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it: yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto. And therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness.

This paragraph in the Confession is a response to the view of some Reformed theologians, that if you don’t know that you’re in God's favor and saved, then you’re not. It is clear that a lot of people who testify and show every evidence that they are Christians lack absolute assurance. But such assurance is possible to such. And God wants you to have it.

Second, although it might seem that it could lead to one becoming complacent, the reality is that having absolute certainty that you are saved will actually be the strongest possible motivation that you will ever have to obey God. This is because this is the way God has designed us. For example, if you are certain that it is your destiny to do something important won't you be much more motivated to do it than if you were uncertain about it?

To give another example, compare how you would react to receiving one of those Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes letters to receiving a letter from an estate attorney concerning the will of a recently-deceased wealthy relative. Won't most people be much more motivated to respond to the latter because it is certain that there will be a pay-off with it? (That is, unless you had alienated your relative and they wanted to stick it to you in their will!)

4. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never so utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.

The final section of the chapter on Assurance deals with how our sense that we are saved can be lost from time-to-time, even if we have reached the point of knowing for certain that Jesus Christ has saved us. But real assurance and, indeed, faith itself is not about how we feel. It's about what we know.

It is possible to know that one is saved, but not feel like it at times for a variety of reasons. It may be due to our neglect in doing what we can to reinforce our identity as redeemed sinners (that is, still sinners, yet surely redeemed by the work of Christ). Not going to church, neglecting other opportunities for Christian fellowship and service, not praying and not reading the Bible regularly are common ways in which we can be negligent in preserving our awareness that God has saved us.

And sometimes, for reasons that we often can't fully fathom (besides humbling us, which we frequently need!), God causes us to lose confidence through no fault of our own, either by ordaining us to experience a strong temptation and, even, by decreeing that we will fall into a grievous sin.² But, again, neither our salvation nor our assurance of our salvation are dependent on what we may or may not do. Both are dependent only on what God has already done to save us. And it is precisely by going back to what we know: namely, that God has saved me through the work of Jesus Christ that we are able to go back to rejoicing in our salvation rather than questioning that we are really saved.³

Summary

There are 4 types of people in the world:

1. People who don't think they are saved and aren't (at least, not yet).

2. People who think they are saved, but aren't (at least, not yet).

3. People who don't know for sure that they are saved, but are.

4. People who are sure they are saved and are. (This is where you want to be and can be because God wants you to be here.)

Bible Focus

1 John 3:19-24 and 1 John 4:13-19 are especially important passages for showing the Biblical basis for absolute assurance of salvation. Some notes on the relevant verses follow.

3:19set our hearts at rest (NIV) = assurance

20 If we don’t feel that we’re saved

21-22When we know that we’re saved

23 Faith in the saving work of Christ is our foundation. Loving one another is the result. This is parallel to Jesus’ 2 greatest commandments.

24 The Holy Spirit assures us directly that we belong to God. This is something we can experience any time and especially need to do when we are struggling or down.

4:13Again, we know we belong to God through the testimony of the in-dwelling Holy Spirit.

14-15The Spirit tells us that Jesus is our Savior and the Son of God (parallel to Romans 10:9).

16 Reliance on God’s love (that is, faith) is our foundation.

17 God’s love is made complete in us as we love Him and others.

18 No fear of punishment = assurance

19 God loves us → Us loving Him and others

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1 The use of the male pronoun here and elsewhere does not mean that God is ultimately male. The Bible teaches that both males and females are in the image of God. So God is ultimately supra-gender. That is, God transcends maleness and femaleness. But the Bible also teaches that God BECAME a man a little over 2000 years ago, when One of the Persons of the Trinity became Jesus of Nazareth.

2 It is not just that God allows such things to happen. For, as the Confession states elsewhere (Chapter 3, Section 1): God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass . . . The reason that God foreknows everything is because God foreordained everything that would happen in His Creation before any of it came to be. Though some would say that this threatens our freedom, this is not the case. Whether God just foreknows everything that happens (which most Christians freely grant) or God actually decrees what will happen, it is all just as certain either way from God's point-of-view (though, of course, not from ours). God's sovereignty is certain. Our freedom must be understood to be within the context of this sovereignty. But, in reality, no reasonable person can deny that we are responsible for what we do because we make real choices. (More on this in the D and O chapters)

3 There are many Scriptures that support this picture. The writers of the Confession listed the following.

For paragraph 1: Job 8:13-14; Micah 3:11; Deut. 29:19; John 8:41; Matt. 7:22-23; John 2:3; 1 John 3:14, 18-19, 21, 24; 1 John 5:13; Rom. 5:2, 5.

For paragraph 2: Heb. 6:11, 17-19; 2 Pet. 1:4, 5, 10, 11; 1 John 2:3, 3:14; 2 Cor. 1:12; Rom. 8:15-16; Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:21, 22.

For paragraph 3: 1 John 5:13; Isa. 50:10; Mark 9:24; Psa. 88 (all), 77:1-12; 2 Cor 2:12; 1 John 4:13; Heb. 6:11-12; Eph. 3:17-19; 2 Pet. 1:10; Rom. 5:1,2,5, 14:17, 15:13; Eph. 1:3-4; Psa. 4:6-7, 119:32; 1 John 2:1-2; Rom. 6:1-2; Titus. 2:11-12, 14; 2 Cor. 7:1; Rom. 8:1, 12; 1 John 3:2-3; Psa. 130:4; I John 1:6-7.

For paragraph 4: S of S 5:2-3, 6; Psa. 51:8, 12, 14; Eph. 4:30-31; Psa. 77:1-10; Matt. 26:69, 70-72; Psa. 31:22; Psa. 88 (all); Isa. 50:10; 1 John 3:9; Luke 22:32; Job 13:15; Psa. 73:15, 51:8, 12; Isa. 50:10; Micah 7:7-9; Jer. 32:40; Isa. 54:7-10; Psa. 22:1; Psa. 88 (all).

Believing in God is All He Requires to be Saved

Most scholars agree that the basic issue that drove the Protestant Reformation was this question: Are we saved by having faith in Christ along with good works or are we saved by faith alone? After 500 years you might think that we would have reached a clear understanding of the answer to this question. But this is clearly not the case. We still struggle with this question in many ways.

In one way this is not surprising. Many people struggle with this question because the correct answer is counter-intuitive (or contrary to what we would naturally expect to be true). Martin Luther and those who followed him were correct. We are saved by faith alone. (Yet we are not saved by faith that is alone; that is, by faith that is not followed by good works.)

Justice says that one should only get what he or she has earned. But while this principle of justice is valid and desirable in this world, it won't work as the basis for getting to Heaven. This is because no one is able to earn eternal Salvation, no matter how good we are. This is the fatal flaw in every human religion and philosophy. All of us need mercy and grace from God rather than justice.

There's an old joke about an unattractive man who goes to a photographer to get portraits. But when he gets his proofs back he is quite displeased. So he goes to the photographer and complains: "These pictures