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This is video 1: Having Total, Absolute Assurance of Your Salvation 

The TEXT follows with scripture references.

When it comes to salvation, quite a few years ago, I was in a meeting of church pastors and leaders.

Meeting room full

The moderator asked for a secret poll of how certain we were that we were saved, ranking ourselves 1 – 10. One would say we weren’t very sure at all, and 10 would say we were totally sure of our salvation. We wrote our number on a small sheet of paper, anonymously.

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Out of about 100 people, most of which were pastors, the most frequent number was a 6, which is what I wrote. Only 4 wrote 10, and only 4 wrote 9, and only 2 or 3 wrote 1. Most wrote 5, 6 or 7. This tells you most people’s assurance of their salvation is not very high.

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And, over the past 20 years, I’ve asked other people this question about salvation. Results have been much the same.

How certain are you of your salvation?

Today I would write a 10, because he gospel gives us so much assurance,
but this has only been the past 15 years. For the first 25 years, as I said,
I wasn’t certain at all.

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Salvation, or being born again, is the most important aspect of the gospel. After all, we can’t get to heaven without being saved, can we? The Bible is clear we must be born again, which means being saved by trusting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

Most people have lingering doubts about their salvation. The thought is, “What else must I do to be sure that I’m saved, and will have eternal life with God?” In gospel reality, it is not doing anything that gets us saved, and gets us in heaven. The gospel is clear: it is by God’s grace that we are saved, through our faith, and even our faith is one of God’s gifts to us. Salvation is not by our works, or by what we DO, so none of us can claim any credit for it (Eph 2:8-9).

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Paul goes so far as to say that God chose us in himself before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4). He also says that salvation is not because of our works, but according to God’s grace, before the world began (II Tim 1:9). You see, God is all-knowing.

You see, our salvation is not dependent upon us doing anything at all. It’s dependent on us believing God, and trusting him enough to simply live life in the reality he declares to be true. This is what the gospel does for us: it shows us that knowing that we are forgiven and redeemed by Jesus is all we need to live with God for eternity in heaven.

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The problem is that our first impression of Christianity is usually in Sunday School, where Moses and the 10 commandments are most often the first thing presented. Jesus isn’t usually presented until later. If the first thing we hear is LAW, this points the finger at us making us feel responsible for our salvation. There’s no second chance for a first impression – thus many live their lives with thoughts of the law.

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Go to Video 2 on Salvation