Blessed Assurance

My whole life I recall singing a song in worship service entitled,
“Blessed Assurance.” As I thought of this song recently, I stopped
for a moment to think of all the people who don’t have that very
thing, blessed assurance. There are so many who misunderstand,
and others who ignore, what the Bible says about salvation and
they are therefore uncertain where they will spend eternity. Some
say that grace saves us. Others claim faith, or baptism, or hope.
With salvation at stake, it is worth looking at each of these and
seeing what the Bible says about them. The fact is all are correct.
One cannot exist without the other.

Does faith save? Acts 16:31 says, “So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” Yes,
faith does save, but it is important to note that true faith is more
than simply a mere belief. True faith forces action. It was for this
very reason that Noah built the ark when he believed God would
send a flood. One is not saved simply by believing in Christ any
more than Noah was saved from the flood because he believed it
would come. One is saved when his faith moves him to act. 1
Peter 3:20-21 ties this together as it says, “Who formerly were
disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight
souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us- baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
This is why in Acts 16:33 (two verses after the original text) it reads, “And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.” The people in this Acts’ account believed and it forced them into action. It was immediate because they knew a simple belief did not save, so why wait? In James 2:18 the author rhetorically makes the statement, “show me your faith without your works.” This is rhetorical because he knew that no one can do such a thing. True faith is seen through our actions and in our desire to follow the commands laid out in scripture. Faith surely saves, but let’s make sure we are defining faith properly.

Does grace save? Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” We are indeed saved by grace, through faith. As already discussed, our faith should call us to act. It should lead us to open the gift of God’s grace that He has given to all mankind. Sadly this is a gift that so often goes unopened and therefore unreceived (click here for a further look into the gift of grace).

Does hope save? Romans 8:24 says, “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?” Hope saves because it is what keeps us in the light. It is, as written in Hebrews 6:19, and anchor of the soul. The hope of heaven is what keeps us steadfast in His work. We don’t wish for heaven, but rather we have the hope of it. The difference in a wish and hope is that hope is a desire with expectations. In 1 John 5:13 we read, “These things I have written 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.”

When we truly believe in Him, we act on that belief through baptism for the
remission of sins (Acts 2:38). In doing so we open God’s wonderful gift that He gave us through His Son (John 3:16), and we live out our days with the hope and assurance of an eternity with Him. How important it is to be certain of our salvation, and how wonderful it is that we can be so certain. As the song lyrics read, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!” May God bless you this week and may you always remember that God is Greater!

Ben Stevenson