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Bible Will I Find: Blessed Assurance? By: Gary Colley
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Bible Will I Find: Blessed Assurance? By: Gary Colley
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Christians love to sing, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a fore-taste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.” Doubt cannot and will not remain in the heart of one who has deep and abiding faith in God. One can not be assured that he pleases God without acts of faith that come from hearing and acting upon God’s Word (Heb.11:6; Rom.10:17). When one places his confidence in God, who is able to sustain us in the darkest of hours, he has “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” and which shall keep our hearts and minds calm “through Christ Jesus” (Phil.4:7). This is indeed a “fore-taste of glory divine!” But one cannot be an heir of salvation and purchase of God until they have reached the cleansing blood by having been baptized into Christ (Rom.6:3-4). In baptism one is “born of water and the Spirit” and enters into the church of Christ, the kingdom of God (Jn.3:3-5). It is by one Spirit’s teaching that we all enter by baptism into the one body, the church (I Cor.12:13; Eph.1:22; 4:4). What is involved in this “blessed assurance?” 1. THERE IS THE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION! No one should look toward eternal salvation with their fingers crossed! No doubt should be allowed in the Christian’s heart about their eternal welfare. We can know the truth (Jn.8:32), and we can know “that we have eternal life” in the world to come (I Jn.2:25; 5:13). 2. WE CAN HAVE THE ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS! Forgiveness is a bookkeeping term meaning to remove or cancel a debt. In Christ, forgiveness is promised by God with the remission of sins and new life in Christ (Acts 2:38). After we become Christians, it is possible that we may fall back into sin. But continued assurance of forgiveness comes when we confess our sins to our Father and turn from those sins (I Jn.1:7-9). 3. THERE IS ALSO ASSURANCE OF GOD’S PRESENCE AND POWER IN OUR LIVES! Paul said, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom.8:31). God directs His children through His Word. He is by His providence “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with swelling thereof” (Psa.46:1-3). Christians have the sustaining promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb.13:5). If you are not a Christian, why not obey today, and take this “Blessed Assurance” for yourself. Replace your doubt with faith! (Rom.10:17).--Gary Colley