by Lt. Dwight Horn, Chaplain, U.S. Navy

Day 1

One of the most troubling issues for Christians is the issue of the assurance of salvation. Many will tell them that they are not going to heaven for all kinds of reasons:

1. you are going to the wrong church
2. you worship in the wrong way
3. you don't go to church
4. your faith is not like mine and mine is right
5. you.....

The list is almost endless. How can you really know? The first truth to consider... Romans 10:9-13

When someone challenges you about your faith hold fast to your confession. Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved. That is the promise of God. Step one: confess Jesus is Lord. Start today, make your profession: Jesus is Lord. Start with your plants, work your way up to your dog, then your spouse, children, close friends.... move to acquaintances and then, shout it out to all. But remember, it is not your confession that saves you, it is Jesus the Lord. The expression is only an admission of what God is doing internally. Praise God! Jesus is Lord. See I have already started.

There are no free lunches.
You cannot get something for nothing.
You offer this for free, what's the catch?

One of the most difficult things for us to believe about the Gospel is not that God came in the flesh to live amongst man, not that Jesus performed miracles, not even the resurrection. What troubles us the most is that this thing called the gospel is free. We just don't get it. How can we possibly believe that the greatest gift that has ever been offered is free? No matter how many times we hear it, we cannot accept it. We continue to strive in all of our efforts to make ourselves into something that is worthy of salvation. Here is what we are missing. Romans 3:21-28:

Pay close attention to the words. To have a relationship with God, we need to be perfect, absolutely holy as God is. But we are not. No person has ever obeyed the law of God to perfection: no person (except Christ). We are all left unrighteous, therefore, and separated from God. That is why Christ had to come; i.e., to fulfill the law perfectly and present Himself to God as that perfect sacrifice for our sins. Righteousness comes to us now in Christ apart from law. It had to because we could not keep the law: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. YOU CAN DO NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING TIMES INFINITY to earn, merit or deserve the gift of Christ: NOTHING. GOD ALONE, GOD ALONE, GOD ALONE TIMES INFINITY is the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Because you have nothing to do with the righteousness that God offers in Christ, Paul in Romans asks: Where, then, is boasting? If you have done something, then you have reason to boast, but you have done nothing. There is no place to boast. Again as Paul says, It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Praise be to God. Confess Jesus as Lord as your heart bears witness to Him. There is no greater gift.

The last words that Christ spoke are these (John 19:30):

''It is finished."

What Christ meant is that by His death all was accomplished so that sin could be forgiven and mankind could be reconciled to God. How many today cry out on the one hand that "it is finished" and then on the other, they insist that if we truly want to be reconciled to God, we need to accept the finished work of Christ and do (some action). Paul deals with this very issue in Galatians. The Christians there were saying that we should believe in Christ and be circumcised. Paul's response is clear (Galatians 3:1-3): You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

If faith in Christ requires any action on your part, then how is Christ's work "finished"?

If faith in Christ requires any action on your part, then why is it called a gift (Eph 2:8): For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast?

If faith in Christ requires any action on your part, then how does faith come apart from the law (i.e. requirements for purity) – Romans 3:21-23: But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

We could go on, but for today understand this issue which is highly misunderstood in the church today. Listen to the way that John says it (1:12-13): But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood (right lineage), nor of the will of the flesh (good works), nor of the will of man (human decision), but of God.

If salvation = Christ + something, what is that something and how do we justify it in scripture? That is the issue that we truly want to address. Again, be set free by the grace of God. Stop beating yourself up over how unworthy you are. You are unworthy. That was the point; that is why Christ had to die. But stop focusing on YOU — that is not the point. CHRIST is the issue; He is the one who sets you free. He is the One who has accomplished your salvation. He is the One who has forgiven you before God. He is the only One who is capable of doing anything to earn your salvation. Praise God. His mercy is awesome.

We established that Christ alone is our sufficiency in salvation. His death on the cross becomes the sacrifice that covers all of our sin which separates us from God. We can add nothing to this work: "it is finished". Our response is to confess our need for this forgiveness in Christ. But how do we come to see our need? It is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. In Part II of this question series, we will address the role of Holy Spirit in salvation. We will start where Jesus does. We are all familiar with John 3:16. We find the verse referenced at many athletic events. It is a great promise: ''For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." But what is commonly misunderstood about this verse is the context from which it comes. In the context, Jesus is discussing with a Pharisee, Nicodemus, what it takes to know God. His dialogue leads Him to point out something critical to understand. He says in John 3:5-8, ''I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Jesus in these verses stresses the role of the Spirit in salvation. The Spirit is described as sovereignly moving about and birthing in the hearts of individuals salvation. Essential to grasp – which by the way Nicodemus did not – is that to know God is first to receive the work of the Spirit of God. Without the Spirit, there is no potential to know God. To say that you are a Believer in God, as Nicodemus did, without having experienced the work of the Spirit is to believe in vain. In other words, faith is not intellectual assent, it is a work of the Spirit of God (I Corinthians 12:3): Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ''Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, ''Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

John 6:63-65

It is clear that the Holy Spirit has a vital role in salvation. In these verses, Jesus is trying to let His challengers know why they cannot accept the words that He offers. His reason is "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing".

The Spirit has a vital role in the rebirth. What is that role? Jesus explains this later in the gospel of John (16:8):

Prior to that point where you confess Jesus is Lord there has to be an awakening to the true need for that confession. This is the role of the Spirit. He will convict you of sin which will in turn lead you to confession. Do you know what it is to be convicted by the Spirit regarding sin in your life? To answer yes is again to be assured of your salvation.

We are discussing the Spirit's role in the process of salvation. We considered that the Spirit moves with sovereignty in the lives of people to enable them to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Jn 3) and we looked at the Spirit's role to convict people of sin in order to move them to repentance. For today, let us be clear that life in the Lord begins only by the work of God's Spirit. Read closely from I Corinthians 3:6:

The reason why we can preach the good news of Christ to people and have them reject it is only because the Spirit of God is not at work in them. The Spirit would open their eyes to this knowledge, remove a veil that prevented them from seeing and enable them to repent (I Corinthians 20):

Being saved is a work of God's Spirit. Your assurance of salvation as you see again is not related to you, it is the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. But how can we be sure that the Spirit is at work? That will come tomorrow. For today, praise God, Christ and the Spirit for your salvation.

The role of the Holy Spirit in salvation is clear by now: 1) with sovereignty moving in the hearts of people, Jn 3; 2) bringing conviction for sin, Jn 16; and 3) enabling a person to know of God, I Cor 1:20 and I Cor 3:6. The connection should be seen that Christ alone enables our salvation by His death and the Holy Spirit in conjunction enables our salvation by lifting the veil that sin brings. Note the connection that Paul brings between the Lord and the Spirit (II Corinthians 3:14):

The question still remains for us though, how can we be certain that the veil has been lifted. Are we living in darkness without knowing it. Again hold onto all of what has been passed thus far, especially that to confess Jesus as Lord is key and to be able to make that confession is a work of the Spirit (review previous lessons). But passing beyond this, we can have our assurance made stronger by knowing how to see the work of the Spirit in our lives. There are a few things to see here. The first is this (Galatians 5:16):

Display on this day the fruit of the Spirit and turn against the work of the flesh and you will be even more assured of your salvation.

We know clearly that confessing Christ as Lord is the key to salvation. The prompting for that confession is the Holy Spirit as we have also learned. But how can we be sure that we are not just kidding ourselves or forcing a confession that we truly do not believe. One evidence as seen in the last devotion is to see the Spirit of God work within to remove the temptations of the flesh and to display within the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). A second very clear mark of the Spirit within comes when we exercise our spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 13:4-7): "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good."

But are we using our spiritual giftedness? Many times we sit on the sidelines with these gifts. But the evidence of our faith is seen as we step forward in faith to allow God to use us in His body. A refusal to do so not only denies you the blessing of the assurance of your salvation, but it further erodes the power of the body of Christ as each one of us has a part to play (Romans 12:4-13):

Find out what your spiritual gifts are and begin to use them. That will be your added assurance of faith.

[Editor's note: An excellent Spiritual Gifts Discovery Tool is available here.]

I remember this guy who worked with me once telling me and a few co-workers that he was a scratch golfer (that is, no handicap because he could shoot par, almost like a professional). I was intrigued and suspicious. I could not wait to go golfing with him. When we went, on the very first hole, as he took his first swing, before he even hit the ball, I knew that he was lying. He truly looked like he had never swung a club before. By the time we had finished that round of golf, it was embarrassingly clear that the guy had told a whopper of a lie. He also told me that he was a professional rodeo rider: I was grateful for him that no rodeos ever came to town.

How many times do we hear people say that they are Christians and yet, when we get to know them it becomes clear that there is no evidence of it? This moves us beyond our opening discussions on the issue of being saved. We started with Christ and realized that He did it all, there is nothing that we can add: to confess Him as Lord is all that is needed for salvation. We then moved to the role of the Holy Spirit and realized that again, apart from us, the Spirit moves in our lives and enables us to make the confession of Christ. So that with both Christ and the Holy Spirit the work of salvation is accomplished for us. So how is it possible, if God does the work of saving us, for us to make the claim of being a Christian and yet, for it not to be real? To understand this you must understand two terms that are developed in the Bible: justification and sanctification. Justification is the act of being made holy before God. It is solely a work of God through Christ and the Spirit. Read again Paul's important discussion of this in Romans 3:23: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.... Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Sanctification, on the other hand, is the outworking of what God has done. It is the Spirit's work in the life of a Believer and we have a part in making it happen. Let us consider this work today and see how greatly we allow or hinder the work of God's Spirit. Carry these two scriptures with you today:

1. Galatians 5:16-17 — So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
2. Ephesians 4:30-5: — And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person-such a man is an idolater-has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

It is important for us to realize that though God and God alone justifies us (makes us right before Him) this does not mean that we become Christian Couch Potatoes. We always fall back upon His grace in our failings, but we must step forward to serve Him in our faith. Recognize something in this. Before God's work in us, we were incapable of doing any good work (Romans 3:12): "All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." All of our works, even those that we considered honorable, were as filthy rags. What we did, we did for ourselves because we lived in our sinful natures. Now, however, by the Holy Spirit we have been renewed and set free (Romans 6:15):

Therefore, we must step forward in our faith to serve and obey. This issue is brought to the foreground in the book of James. Listen to the damning words he offers to those who refuse to serve in faith (James 2:14-17):

This is truly good news in that our willingness to serve others, to act in faith, to give to those in need, to love those who hate us.... is all evidence that God has truly done something within us. If we say we are Christians but we do not serve, if we hate those who hate us, if we refuse to help those in need, we show our faith to be empty. Activate your faith as God leads and be assured once more that you are indeed a child of God.

Moving on with our question, we know that we are to be involved in this process of sanctification (becoming more righteous). But as with justification (act of God saving us), we assume total responsibility for this work too. We tend to believe that we must make this happen. Let's bring some clarity to this.

In the last devotion, we examined James' charge to show faith by works and without showing it, there is no faith. What he says is true. God changes us when we He reveals Himself to us and we do change: new desires, new longings, new convictions. This is to be expected from what we were promised in Ezekiel 36:25: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

James is right to point out that faith is accompanied with works as the evidence of the former. However, he is not talking about justification (the act of being saved), but sanctification (the process of working out our faith). This is where people get confused. When Paul says that we are justified by faith alone (Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Romans 5:1-2) he is not contradicting James. He is talking about justification and James about sanctification. Okay with that somewhat clear, now let us realize that we need to display our faith. But there is still one more clarification to add. Yes we must be active in our faith, but God is still not removed from the picture. Rather He is just as involved as we are and it is by His assurance that this work of sanctification will be complete. Read the two scriptures below and begin to understand this picture better.

Philippians 5:12-13

Philippians 1:4-6

Now go forward and serve the body of Christ and the lost, but be mindful that as you do, it is God who is at work within you both to will and to work for HIS good pleasure. Yet another sign of our assurance.

As we have been talking recently assurance of salvation is furthered by the evidence of change within. When we see ourselves loving God and people in new ways we see change. In this we can take comfort. However, there will no doubt for us all be times when we get discouraged. We will struggle with the same sins, we will not respond as God would have us, we will fall short and know it. All the while, we will know that if we truly are saved, we should have victory (Romans 6:11-12): "count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."

Although it can be down right depressing to realize how far we have to go and to see just how short of the mark we are, there is always something that we should keep in mind. Yes a look at your sin is overwhelming as Paul realized: Romans 7:24 — "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?." However, it is not our sin that defines us as Christians, but the work of Christ and this is where we come when we take a look at our sin (Romans 8:1-3): "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering."

When you doubt your salvation because of your sin and you get overwhelmed with guilt, come back to what remains true for you: Jesus Christ is your hope in salvation. Forget about yourself and focus on Christ. He is your assurance and His work is finished.

As we conclude this discussion of the assurance of our salvation, let us do so by reviewing the important truths that ground our faith.

1) Christ did it all for you, you have nothing to do to be justified before God, the work of Christ is complete:

2) The Holy Spirit brings this faith to you, it is not by your decision (John 1:12-13) or even by good works:

The gift of faith brings change so that now we are free: we can serve God willingly as never before, not trying to merit anything by good works for that is death, but only to walk in the freedom given to us by God:

Our assurance is God, Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, our response comes from the change imparted to us. When we see this change, it is evidence for us that God has justified us. But let us always be mindful that it is not the evidence that saves us, it is the work of God. There will be fruit in keeping with the Spirit because we are now different, but the fruit is not our justification before God, it is the outworking of it. Let us close as Paul does in Galatians, reminding those who tried to say that justification in Christ is not sufficient, but that in this case circumcision was also required:

Praise God for His work in us, let us now step forward and serve.