Blessed Assurance! (Pt 4)

So far in our series we have seen many ways to help us know that we are saved if we are true believers in Jesus Christ! We have studied the following clues given to us: “Spiritual Warfare, Scriptural Assurance, The Holy Spirit’s Ministry, Answered Prayer, Obeying and Loving God’s Word, and Knowing the Truth”. Today, we look at two more ways to know that we are saved: “Hating sin and doing it less, and Loving other Christians”.

Hating sin and doing it less

As believers, we know that sin separates us from God and on our own we have no way to be with God. We know that Jesus’ sacrifice for us paid the penalty for our sins so that we may be saved, just by believing and asking Him to save us. But we still have a “sin nature” in us that is constantly at war with our saved spirit. Occasionally, we stumble and fall, committing sin against others and God. We know that God hates sin and it has a condemning result (Romans 6:23). We know we are to hate evil (Psalm 97:10) and love the Lord. Our hating sin is an indication of our salvation.

As a believer we relate in a new way! “ ¹Because we abide in Him (Romans 6:6), we are no longer slaves to sin, but have an option to do good (Romans 6:14, 17-18). We will always be acutely sensitive to sin (John 1:7).” If we are growing in our faith we will begin to hate the sin that we commit and will abhor doing it. ¹“A believer should see a decreasing pattern of sin in their lives, it means that his faith is genuine”. We will immediately confess our sins and He will forgive us (1 John 1:9). We have not lost our salvation, but our fellowship with Christ is broken. Confession restores our fellowship with Him and we learn from that not to do it again.

“A decreasing pattern of sin in a believers’ life, means that his faith is genuine“ Dr. John MacArthur

If you are not seeing a decrease in sin or don’t think it’s that bad, reconsider if you have genuinely given your life to Christ. However, if we sin less and less, we know that our faith is real and that shows as a further indication of our assuredness of salvation.

Loving other Christians

As I have grown in my relationship with Jesus, I have seen a deeper love for my fellow believers. In 1 Peter 1:22, Peter says as we obey the truth that we have a “sincere love of the brethren and that we are to fervently love one another from the heart..” As we continue on in this passage we see that we are born again not of the seed which is perishable but imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. He gives us our strong desire to love, fellowship and care for each other.

“He gives us the strong desire to love, fellowship, and care for each other”

We also learn through scripture that the world will know we are Jesus’ disciples if we love one another ( John 13:35 ). Our lives should be the very example of love for each other as Christ loved us. The world sees our desire to love God and each other and they know whose we are. We are always being watched by unbelievers and they are looking for ways to discredit us. But if they see us caring for each other by the kindnesses we show each other and how we are unified in Christ, some may be persuaded to want to come and join us.

So ask yourself several ¹questions to see if some of these describe you in any way.

1. Do you care about other believers, or are you cold towards them?
2. Do you respond positively to opportunities to give yourself to ministries?
3. Do you look forward to having fellowship with other Christians?
4. Do you look forward to times when you can study God’s word and spend time in prayer with other believers?
5. When you see a need in another believer at your church, are you willing to provide money, time, prayer, resources, service, or even just to listen to them?

If you can honestly say YES to these questions, you can know you are His child and are saved. You see HE put those desires in your heart, not the world! Know that you are blessed beyond measure and thank Him for revealing to you that you are His. If you can’t say yes to any of these, perhaps you are not saved yet, but don’t be discouraged, you now can see that He is calling you to Himself even as you read this post. Why not ask Him to save you right now today?

Ref: ¹Dr John MacArthur, “Strength for today – Assuredness of Faith”.