Simon
Well-Known Member
I pray that this will be a help and blessing to many.
My Testimony
I was brought up in a Christian home and led to the Lord by my mother before I had turned 6 years of age. I remember it now, kneeling down by the side of my bed with my mother by my side. I don't recall any conviction of sin or repentance, only that my primary motivation was one of fear that my parents were going to heaven and I would be left behind. That's about all I can remember, but my mother knew the gospel and I am sure that I had heard it and she did her best to explain it to me at the time.
Who can really say whether that was a saving faith or not? Only God knows for sure, but I think if a little child comes to him in belief not fully understanding faith, sin, repentance, justification, propitiation and the cross that God will have accepted me in my ignorance. Jesus accepted the little ones even when the disciples tried to turn them away. Matthew 19:14.
Now there were at least two significant factors that impacted on my faith growing up as a young believer.
1. There's a major difference between coming to faith as a child and getting saved as an adult. Although a young child is still a sinner there is no history of a life of sin prior to being born again. When an adult is saved there should be an immediate and fairly dramatic change in their life, indicated by a change of attitudes, motives and behaviour. With a child this is not so. They are still a normal child who will misbehave and need to be disciplined and parented and also go through their adolescence in the normal manner. There is, therefore, no obvious change in their behaviour. They need to mature in the normal sense as well as to grow spiritually. Their spiritual growth is hindered by the fact they are a child and they aren't able to bring an adult understanding to the scriptures and to their faith. Besides which most churches will still treat them as a child and not feed them properly. Probably because there is no obvious change in behaviour they lack assurance because they just don't feel saved. Over the years I have spoken to many Christians who were brought up in a Christian home and most - if not all - report that they lacked assurance of their salvation. So for any Christian parents reading this it's very likely that your children will have similar issues.
2. My parents and the church that I grew up in was a Bible believing, gospel preaching church. It was also rather legalistic and a little lacking in love. There were some wonderful godly Christians there, but not all of them. The fruits of the spirit were not in great evidence. They preached the gospel faithfully every week, both in the main adult services and in the children's work. All children's talks and Sunday school messages led back to Jesus, the cross and the message of salvation. By the time I was a teenager I must have heard the gospel message at least 1,000 times. I knew it forwards, backwards and inside-out. The problem was that all they really did was preach the gospel and very little else. If I'm completely honest it almost became boring because I needed to be fed and I wasn't even getting any milk. The midwives delivered a few babies occasionally and then just left them to starve. The young believers simply weren't taught clearly or systematically. The only real teaching that was done at that church was meat for the self-satisfied "spiritually superior". Over the years that church has dwindled because beyond preaching the gospel there was not much life in it.
So as a child I simply didn't grow spiritually. My knowledge of the Bible increased because they were a Bible believing church, but it was all in my head and not in my heart. I behaved like a normal child, and as a fairly normal teenager. Although as a teenager my behaviour was generally better than most of my peers and I believe God kept me away from anything particularly bad. No wonder then that I lacked assurance of my salvation. I just didn't feel saved, so over those years I got "saved" many times on my own in private. Looking back it seems to me that for anyone giving their heart to Jesus on a number of occasions, it is a reasonably good indication that they are a child of God who are simply lacking assurance.
Assurance of Salvation Part 1
As a teenager and young adult who doubted my salvation I naturally listened very intently to any and every sermon preached on assurance. I heard a number of messages on assurance during those years and they all more or less said the same thing. This is what they all said:
Because God says so.
This was their logic. The Bible is God's word. That was fine; I believed that was true. Then they quoted various verses about the gospel, such as John 3:16, John 5:24, Romans 10:9 etc. I'm sure the reader can think of others. Then they said that if you have repented of your sin and have put your faith in Jesus death on the cross as having paid the price then you will be saved. Because the Bible says so. I believed that too, so no problem with that either.
A common problem that many people have is that they don't "feel" saved. Salvation is not based on feelings, but rather it's based on God's certain promises given in his word. If God says we are saved then we are saved no matter how we feel. This is a good answer and for some people it will help them.
But it didn't solve my problem as it only gives half the answer.
My problem was this. How did I know that my repentance was real? and how did I know that my faith was real? They didn't answer that question, so I was left with the same doubts and uncertainty. How could I be sure?
Assurance of Salvation Part 2
Because I wasn't a terribly mature Christian who lacked assurance I never the read the Bible much by myself. I read it a little, just not enough. Immature believer, no assurance, not enough Bible, not much prayer, generally living partly for myself and not sold out for God. One foot in the church and the other in the world. It's a vicious circle as one problem feeds the other.
I eventually got the answer that I needed when I started reading the Bible extensively by myself.
1. If you're truly not saved then it's best to read John's Gospel. John explains why he wrote it:
2. If you are saved and lacking assurance then it's best to read John's first epistle. John explains why he wrote it:
We can all have opinions about how to deal with lack of assurance, but the only one that really matters is God's. If you lack assurance of salvation then keep please reading John's first epistle. That's why he wrote it. God's words are the only ones that really matter.
I want to bring out two key points from 1 John that deal with assurance of salvation.
1. We must deal with unconfessed sin.
John is writing his letter to believers, whom he addresses as "My little children". When - and not if - we sin then we must confess it to God so that we put it right with him.
When we do sin and confess it then Jesus intercedes on our behalf:
If we don't confess our sin then we will lack assurance. In my opinion this is best done immediately but at least daily. Also see the so-called Lord's prayer.
2. We keep his commandments
God's promise is clear. We will know that we know him if we keep his commandments. That is we obey the teachings of Jesus. That's what the scripture says.
It's also crucial for growth. If we sin - and don't confess it - then we are easy prey as we have little defence against the evil one. We need the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14.
Let me be clear here, I am not advocating salvation by works. Rather that scripture teaches us the only way we can know our faith and salvation is real, is because true belief in Jesus and true repentance causes us to be obedient. In Hebrew a name wasn't simply what you called someone but it represented who they were and what they stood for. So it is with Jesus, believing in the name of Jesus also means believing in everything he did and taught. That means doing it. Putting Jesus' words into practice. He did tell us it wasn't going to be easy. Matthew 7:13-14
This is about assurance not salvation itself. Salvation by faith alone - but Assurance by righteousness (works).
James makes the same point in his letter.
If we are saved and we continue to sin, then we won't lose our salvation but we will lose our assurance. Also 1 John 2:4 says that those "who say, “I know Him,” and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." So if we continue to sin then it could be that we weren't saved in the first place. We just won't know which it is.
Jesus taught the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount.
In scripture when something is important and clear then it is confirmed in many other scriptures.
So in summary, if you want assurance of your salvation then immerse yourself in the first epistle of John until you get it. Then for the rest of your life confess your sin regularly and obey the teachings of Jesus.
Satan Wants You To Lack Assurance
Finally, I want to turn to the role of the evil one in all of this.
Satan, which means adversary and he is also known as the great deceiver. In his pride Satan wanted to usurp the place of God and to be worshipped. When you are saved he's lost you so his next best option is to make you ineffective as a Christian.
A mature, obedient, humble servant of God is a danger to Satan. You might be the cause of others being saved. He wants to deal with you and make you ineffective. An immature, disobedient Christian is no threat and no danger to him, so he'd like to keep it that way.
He will find any way that he can to bring us down. He knows every trick in the book - and he knows the scriptures.
How does he do this?
1. Tempts us into sin.
2. Tries to stops us from confessing our sin.
3. He accuses us before God day and night. Rev 12:9-10. Zechariah 3:1.
4. He pricks our conscience and tells us we aren't really saved.
5. He blames God for calamities. See Job.
6. He tells us not to read the Bible.
7. He tells us not to pray.
8. He tells us to give up.
9. Discouragement and Persecution. If we are strong and he's not able to attack us directly then he attacks us through other means. Our marriages, families, friends and colleauges. Other believers. Adversaries.
Is this familiar to everyone?
Edited for formatting & presentation.
My Testimony
I was brought up in a Christian home and led to the Lord by my mother before I had turned 6 years of age. I remember it now, kneeling down by the side of my bed with my mother by my side. I don't recall any conviction of sin or repentance, only that my primary motivation was one of fear that my parents were going to heaven and I would be left behind. That's about all I can remember, but my mother knew the gospel and I am sure that I had heard it and she did her best to explain it to me at the time.
Who can really say whether that was a saving faith or not? Only God knows for sure, but I think if a little child comes to him in belief not fully understanding faith, sin, repentance, justification, propitiation and the cross that God will have accepted me in my ignorance. Jesus accepted the little ones even when the disciples tried to turn them away. Matthew 19:14.
Now there were at least two significant factors that impacted on my faith growing up as a young believer.
1. There's a major difference between coming to faith as a child and getting saved as an adult. Although a young child is still a sinner there is no history of a life of sin prior to being born again. When an adult is saved there should be an immediate and fairly dramatic change in their life, indicated by a change of attitudes, motives and behaviour. With a child this is not so. They are still a normal child who will misbehave and need to be disciplined and parented and also go through their adolescence in the normal manner. There is, therefore, no obvious change in their behaviour. They need to mature in the normal sense as well as to grow spiritually. Their spiritual growth is hindered by the fact they are a child and they aren't able to bring an adult understanding to the scriptures and to their faith. Besides which most churches will still treat them as a child and not feed them properly. Probably because there is no obvious change in behaviour they lack assurance because they just don't feel saved. Over the years I have spoken to many Christians who were brought up in a Christian home and most - if not all - report that they lacked assurance of their salvation. So for any Christian parents reading this it's very likely that your children will have similar issues.
2. My parents and the church that I grew up in was a Bible believing, gospel preaching church. It was also rather legalistic and a little lacking in love. There were some wonderful godly Christians there, but not all of them. The fruits of the spirit were not in great evidence. They preached the gospel faithfully every week, both in the main adult services and in the children's work. All children's talks and Sunday school messages led back to Jesus, the cross and the message of salvation. By the time I was a teenager I must have heard the gospel message at least 1,000 times. I knew it forwards, backwards and inside-out. The problem was that all they really did was preach the gospel and very little else. If I'm completely honest it almost became boring because I needed to be fed and I wasn't even getting any milk. The midwives delivered a few babies occasionally and then just left them to starve. The young believers simply weren't taught clearly or systematically. The only real teaching that was done at that church was meat for the self-satisfied "spiritually superior". Over the years that church has dwindled because beyond preaching the gospel there was not much life in it.
So as a child I simply didn't grow spiritually. My knowledge of the Bible increased because they were a Bible believing church, but it was all in my head and not in my heart. I behaved like a normal child, and as a fairly normal teenager. Although as a teenager my behaviour was generally better than most of my peers and I believe God kept me away from anything particularly bad. No wonder then that I lacked assurance of my salvation. I just didn't feel saved, so over those years I got "saved" many times on my own in private. Looking back it seems to me that for anyone giving their heart to Jesus on a number of occasions, it is a reasonably good indication that they are a child of God who are simply lacking assurance.
Assurance of Salvation Part 1
As a teenager and young adult who doubted my salvation I naturally listened very intently to any and every sermon preached on assurance. I heard a number of messages on assurance during those years and they all more or less said the same thing. This is what they all said:
Because God says so.
This was their logic. The Bible is God's word. That was fine; I believed that was true. Then they quoted various verses about the gospel, such as John 3:16, John 5:24, Romans 10:9 etc. I'm sure the reader can think of others. Then they said that if you have repented of your sin and have put your faith in Jesus death on the cross as having paid the price then you will be saved. Because the Bible says so. I believed that too, so no problem with that either.
A common problem that many people have is that they don't "feel" saved. Salvation is not based on feelings, but rather it's based on God's certain promises given in his word. If God says we are saved then we are saved no matter how we feel. This is a good answer and for some people it will help them.
But it didn't solve my problem as it only gives half the answer.
My problem was this. How did I know that my repentance was real? and how did I know that my faith was real? They didn't answer that question, so I was left with the same doubts and uncertainty. How could I be sure?
Assurance of Salvation Part 2
Because I wasn't a terribly mature Christian who lacked assurance I never the read the Bible much by myself. I read it a little, just not enough. Immature believer, no assurance, not enough Bible, not much prayer, generally living partly for myself and not sold out for God. One foot in the church and the other in the world. It's a vicious circle as one problem feeds the other.
I eventually got the answer that I needed when I started reading the Bible extensively by myself.
1. If you're truly not saved then it's best to read John's Gospel. John explains why he wrote it:
"Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." John 20:30-31
2. If you are saved and lacking assurance then it's best to read John's first epistle. John explains why he wrote it:
"I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:13
We can all have opinions about how to deal with lack of assurance, but the only one that really matters is God's. If you lack assurance of salvation then keep please reading John's first epistle. That's why he wrote it. God's words are the only ones that really matter.
I want to bring out two key points from 1 John that deal with assurance of salvation.
1. We must deal with unconfessed sin.
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us." 1 John 1:8-10
John is writing his letter to believers, whom he addresses as "My little children". When - and not if - we sin then we must confess it to God so that we put it right with him.
When we do sin and confess it then Jesus intercedes on our behalf:
"My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One." 1 John 2:1
If we don't confess our sin then we will lack assurance. In my opinion this is best done immediately but at least daily. Also see the so-called Lord's prayer.
2. We keep his commandments
"By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word truly has the love of God perfected in him. By this we know we are in Him. Whoever says he remains in Him ought to walk as He walked." 1 John 2:3-6
"If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him." 1 John 2:29
God's promise is clear. We will know that we know him if we keep his commandments. That is we obey the teachings of Jesus. That's what the scripture says.
It's also crucial for growth. If we sin - and don't confess it - then we are easy prey as we have little defence against the evil one. We need the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14.
Let me be clear here, I am not advocating salvation by works. Rather that scripture teaches us the only way we can know our faith and salvation is real, is because true belief in Jesus and true repentance causes us to be obedient. In Hebrew a name wasn't simply what you called someone but it represented who they were and what they stood for. So it is with Jesus, believing in the name of Jesus also means believing in everything he did and taught. That means doing it. Putting Jesus' words into practice. He did tell us it wasn't going to be easy. Matthew 7:13-14
This is about assurance not salvation itself. Salvation by faith alone - but Assurance by righteousness (works).
James makes the same point in his letter.
"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:17-18
If we are saved and we continue to sin, then we won't lose our salvation but we will lose our assurance. Also 1 John 2:4 says that those "who say, “I know Him,” and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." So if we continue to sin then it could be that we weren't saved in the first place. We just won't know which it is.
Jesus taught the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount.
15 “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit. But a corrupt tree bears evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore, by their fruit you will know them. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonderful works in Your name?’ 23 But then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice evil.’ 24 “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. Matthew 7:15-24
In scripture when something is important and clear then it is confirmed in many other scriptures.
So in summary, if you want assurance of your salvation then immerse yourself in the first epistle of John until you get it. Then for the rest of your life confess your sin regularly and obey the teachings of Jesus.
Satan Wants You To Lack Assurance
Finally, I want to turn to the role of the evil one in all of this.
Satan, which means adversary and he is also known as the great deceiver. In his pride Satan wanted to usurp the place of God and to be worshipped. When you are saved he's lost you so his next best option is to make you ineffective as a Christian.
A mature, obedient, humble servant of God is a danger to Satan. You might be the cause of others being saved. He wants to deal with you and make you ineffective. An immature, disobedient Christian is no threat and no danger to him, so he'd like to keep it that way.
He will find any way that he can to bring us down. He knows every trick in the book - and he knows the scriptures.
How does he do this?
1. Tempts us into sin.
2. Tries to stops us from confessing our sin.
3. He accuses us before God day and night. Rev 12:9-10. Zechariah 3:1.
4. He pricks our conscience and tells us we aren't really saved.
5. He blames God for calamities. See Job.
6. He tells us not to read the Bible.
7. He tells us not to pray.
8. He tells us to give up.
9. Discouragement and Persecution. If we are strong and he's not able to attack us directly then he attacks us through other means. Our marriages, families, friends and colleauges. Other believers. Adversaries.
Is this familiar to everyone?
Edited for formatting & presentation.
Last edited:
