The assurance of salvation through faith

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valign="top" height=380 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>THE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION THROUGH FAITH</B></div> <bR> <div> "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil" (Heb 6:19).</div> <div> The Christian hope is founded upon the promises of God described as a "sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19).  Our assurance is not based upon our own limited strength but upon the power of "Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).</div> <div>      The Apostle Paul comparing the present human condition with the immortality God's people will be clothed with in the future, wrote, " For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, so that what is mortal maybe swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 5: 4, 5).</div> <div>      The Holy Spirit is freely given to a repentant sinner. It serves as a guarantee, a pledge down payment on eternal life. This means that anyone who has the Holy Spirit in him is assured that even if he dies tomorrow he will be resurrected upon the return of Jesus Christ, enter the kingdom of God a spirit being and enjoy life everlasting.</div> <div>      The idea of some that a person who has the Holy Spirit must then qualify for entry into the kingdom by attaining a certain level of spiritual perfection was completely foreign to Paul's thinking. Of course, the assurance attributed to the Holy Spirit is a conditional assurance … but an assurance just the same. The conditional elements involve include among others our continuing exercise of faith and strict adherence to God's commandments. In the process, spiritual growth follows which is by all means equally important. It is a mistake, however to assume that salvation itself is attainable only upon reaching a certain level of spiritual development between baptism and death.</div> <div>      The concept that salvation must be achieved through character building only leads to frustration. Notwithstanding of our sincere desire to obey God while preparing ourselves for the return of the Anointed One, many of us feel that we are not at all ready to face our Savior. After a number of years in the church we come to </div> <div> realize that we still have lots of shortcomings and even occasionally succumb to temptations. Time and again, we experience the emergence of old habits and other undesirable weaknesses. Upon examining our lives, it would seem that we have overcome very little since the day we received God's Holy Spirit.</div> <div>      When a person is saved - when his sins is blotted off the record and he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit- he can be absolutely certain that the captain of his salvation will take him safely to the promised destination for as long as the truly converted man doesn't take foolish risks or decide if at all to abandon his calling. As long as he remains in the faith, though he may encounter the stormy seas of trial and temptation along the way he can rest assured that with the Holy Spirit in him he is "sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30). Having been saved through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, he does not  have to qualify [become perfect] before he is fit for the Kingdom of God. He has been made fit not through personal achievement or an impressive record of good deeds, but by the grace of God, which he receives through faith.      </div> <div>      It is true that grieving the Holy spirit or returning to a life of iniquity can break the seal whereby the Christian is preserved "for the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30; 2 Timothy 2:19), but it is not true that loss of salvation is as easy as slipping on an oil coated banana peel nor is it true that the saved person must have a certain number of years wherein he must qualify for entry into the Kingdom of God.</div> <div>      "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost" (Matthew 18:12-14).  You may be one of those lost sheep that had wandered off. And the parable of the good shepherd illustrates you are not doomed. It is you he came to find.</div> <div>      "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). In the light of this simple but well-pronounced declaration from Paul we can safely deduce that Faith is certainty. It is the assurance and the confidence that what we hope for will surely come to pass. If our hope is the coming Kingdom of God, then we should await it with assured confidence, believing that we will enter into it. We should not think that our salvation is hanging by a thread or even think that it is so far away beyond our reach. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).</div> <div>      Another comforting assurance we can rely on which could provide strong encouragement to us in the pursuit our aspirations is found in 2 Timothy 1:9, which says - God,  "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit, that being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life"  (Titus 3:5,7).</div> <div>      Our faith may waver from time to time but God remains steadfast. When grief, pain and loneliness overwhelm us He is always there to console our beleaguered minds. At times, God's people may think the odds are against them. It may seem that the trials of life are more than they can endure. Again, read the whole package of Paul's reassuring message to the Romans.  "Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified; them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also give us all things with Him? Who shall bring charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us" (Romans 8:29-34).  "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?.....nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who love us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35-39).  What promise of assurance had been written by Paul so firmly and solidly in their strongest terms? Read it again! It will surely inspire and embolden you to stay the course and hold on to your faith.</div> <div>      The New Testament is replete with faith-inspiring words of encouragement and assurance. The early disciples were really no different from their modern day counterparts. We read the accounts of how they endured persecutions and hardships of every sort, yet remained faithful to their calling but more than that we must realize that their weaknesses were very much like our own. Apostle Paul was not without his own Achilles heels.  He wrote: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me, for I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sins which dwells within me. </div> <div> So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my innermost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members" (Romans 7: 15-20,23).</div> <div>       If you feel way down low, heartbroken and saddled with insecurities as you travel through the highway of your spiritual journey then notice what Paul had to say: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin" (Romans 7:24-25). "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit"(Romans 8:1-4).  </div> <div>      "O wretched man that I am!...." You know what that means? A miserable man! A condition of hopelessness, yet, Paul stood his ground and declared to us all "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith….." (2 Tim 4:7).</div> <div>       Simon Peter, another pillar of God's New Testament church struggled himself on many occasions against his own personal weaknesses. One can just imagine the Chief of the Apostles exhibiting embarrassing loss of faith in the presence of other converts. On one occasion, long after his conversion, fear of what others might think and of the possible consequences moved Peter to behave in a manner contrary to the truth of the gospel. The matter was so serious that Paul was compelled to rebuke him openly.</div> <div>      It happened in Antioch,  Peter ignoring a commonly held Jewish tradition, dined with the gentile converts. But when the group of circumcision arrived on the scene, Peter parted company with the gentiles, and was soon joined by the other Jews who were there (Galatians 2:11-13).</div> <div>      It was Peter who had earlier received the vision revealing for the first time that he was no longer to call any man common or unclean (Acts 10). Yet, by removing himself from the gentiles, he was sending the message that this people were still unclean. Peter's action was contrary to the truth and a slap on the faces of the gentiles. Had Paul not acted immediately, the divisive nature of Peter's behavior might have seriously damaged the early church.</div> <div>      We are all too familiar of how Peter denied also the Messiah not only once, twice but thrice. Earlier when Jesus told them, "You will all fall away this night….." Peter boldly replied, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away" (Matthew 26: 31-35).  Jesus knew better, He said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice."But Peter insisted, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee" (Matthew 26:33, 69-75).  He was determined and fearless till the hour came of what appeared to be a test of his unshakable faith. Once again, fear brought Peter face to face with his own human inability. In all three instances when confronted of his close association to Christ he denied Him three times.  Clearly, Peter was also flawed like Paul but he remained faithful to the end. True to his words, he gave up his life witnessing for the gospel and the profound message of hope that ushered a new era and changed the religious thinking of the world.</div> <div>      When we think of faith, no one I guess can stand in comparison to the so called father of the faithful- especially if we think God requires us to have the kind of faith Abraham had.   "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready  to  offer up  his  only  son,  of  whom  it  was  said, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named. He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did received him back"(Hebrews 11:17-19).</div> <div>      Do we have that kind of faith Abraham had? Can we stand ready to do what Abraham was prepared to do? Even the thought of slitting his son's throat and watching him bleed to death must have been agonizing more than enough to bear. No wonder; we feel our faith is so inadequate compared to Abraham. </div> <div>      But wait! Hold your breath a second, will you?  The truth is, Abraham himself on many occasions walked also by sight rather than by faith, "yet", he is still called the "friend of God" (James 2:23). The New Testament tells us that Abraham believed God, and that his obedience was evidence of his faith (Hebrews 18:8-10). On the other hand, the account in Genesis 12:10-13 belies the fact that Abraham did not always keep God's promises at the forefront of his mind. Contrary to God's will, Abraham allowed his wife to be taken into Pharaoh's harem in order to preserve his life. What happened to his faith? No doubt, it simply showed that Abraham was as human as we are. </div> <div>      In another occasion, Abraham again demonstrated his flawed humanity (Genesis 16:1-2) when he and Sarah decided to take it upon themselves to have a child through Hagar, notwithstanding of the fact that God had promised him an heir that shall come forth out of his own bowel (Genesis 15:3).</div> <div>      Abraham, by his works, actions and deeds was not a perfect man  before the eyes of God yet, God regarded him a righteous man "And he believed the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness"(Genesis 15:6). Abraham did not qualify for the Kingdom of God through a lifetime of building character. God declared him qualified on the basis of faith. Paul made it clear in Romans 4:2-3, "For if Abraham was justified (declared righteous) by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."</div> <div>      Did you catch it! Read it again. Had God dealt Abraham through the strict letters and spirit of the law his hope of entering the kingdom would have been in vain. By faith he died peaceably with full assurance of God's promises.</div> <div>      Don't get me wrong! While our obedience to God's commandments is absolutely necessary, nevertheless, (human as we are, hostile by nature against God's law) we can never perfectly keep a spiritual law with a carnal mind. The most that we can do is to possess a sincere desire to obey and do it the best way we can. The driving force behind why we are motivated to keep God's commandments is our active and living faith, our confidence, our belief that by doing so we can be justified and reckoned as righteous in His sight. If we fail, as we always do, take heart, salvation is not gained merely through human effort; it is a gift of God and is given to those who truly desire to obey Him.</div> <div>      If anyone recognized their own helplessness and limitations, the three patriarchs cited above exhibited them all with their spiritual desires ruled-over by their physical carnality yet, they remained confident that by the grace of God, in due time they will enter the Kingdom of God and enjoy the fruits of their promised reward.</div> <div>      Continue attending God's Sabbath services. Attend to all the commanded annual festivals especially the Feast of Tabernacles at whatever cost, pay your tithe diligently, accept new truths as we grow in grace and knowledge and pray without ceasing for His kingdom to come. As long as you choose not to turn your way away from God, your eternal salvation is as secure as anything could be. Like the called out men of the Holy Book, endure to the end and go about your life with assured confidence that God will deliver you from every evil and preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom.  "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.(2 Timothy 4:18). </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Romeo Samudio</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>