Assurance of Salvation
Why must I be saved?
Jesus is the way!
After their miraculous release from the Philippian jail, Paul and Silas tell their repentant jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31)
Their words are one of many expressions of the underlying message of the whole Bible: God has provided salvation for the lost. Scripture is clear that all people need to be saved, and today we are looking at a few reasons why.
YOU WERE BORN INTO A FALLEN WORLD AND DEVELOPED A SINFUL NATURE
When Adam sinned, the entire world was affected. Sin entered human experience, and death was the result. And so death followed this sin, casting its shadow over all humanity, because all have sinned
Romans 5:12 | The Passion Translation
Lord, I have been a sinner from birth, from the moment my mother conceived me.
Psalm 51:5 | The Passion Translation
DUE TO YOUR SINFUL NATURE YOU HAVE SINNED
And the Scriptures agree, for it is written: There is no one who always does what is right, no, not even one! There is no one with true spiritual insight, and there is no one who seeks after God alone. All have deliberately wandered from God’s ways. All have become depraved and unfit. Kindness has disappeared from them all, not even one is good.
Romans 3:10-12 | The Passion Translation
YOUR SIN SEPARATES YOU FROM A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
And the Scriptures agree, for it is written: There is no one who always does what is right, no, not even one! There is no one with true spiritual insight, and there is no one who seeks after God alone. All have deliberately wandered from God’s ways. All have become depraved and unfit. Kindness has disappeared from them all, not even one is good.
Romans 3:10-12 | The Passion Translation
YOUR SEPARATION FROM GOD CAUSES SPIRITUAL DEATH
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
Colossians 2:13 | New Living Translation
SALVATION GIVES YOU ETERNAL LIFE
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3 | New King James Version
My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion.
1 John 5:13 | The Message
ONE DAY YOU WILL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT THRONE OF GOD
Therefore, each one must answer for himself and give a personal account of his own life before God.
Romans 14:12 | The Passion Translation Sin started in heaven when Lucifer rebelled against God
WHAT’S UP WITH SIN?
SIN STARTED IN HEAVEN WHEN LUCIFER REBELLED AGAINST GOD
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. “Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, Who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?”
Isaiah 14:12-17 | New King James Version
LUCIFER GOT ADAM AND EVE IN ON THE ACTION
And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:13 | New King James Version
YOUR REBELLION IS SEEN IN YOUR UNWILLINGNESS TO SUBMIT YOUR WILL TO THE WILL OF GOD
Don’t make him angry by hardening your hearts, like your ancestors did during the days of their rebellion, when they were tested in the wilderness. There your fathers tested me and tried my patience even though they saw my miracles for forty years they still doubted me!
Hebrews 3:8-9 | The Passion Translation
Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart, rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Don’t think for a moment that you know it all, for wisdom comes when you adore him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that’s wrong. Then you will find the healing refreshment your body and spirit long for.
Proverbs 3:5-8 | The Passion Translation
GOD LOVES YOU
GOD DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE TO YOU BY GIVING HIS SON TO DIE FOR YOUR SINS
This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
1 John 4:9-10 | The Message No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.
John 15:13 | Amplified Bible
Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Isaiah 49:15-16 | New Living Translation
GOD’S LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL
God’s love for you is not based on something you do, it’s not based on your actions, but it is based on a decision that He has made. His love for you is unconditional!
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!
Lamentations 3:22-24 | The Message
GOD LOVED YOU WHEN YOU DESERVED IT LEAST
But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!
Romans 5:8 | The Passion Translation
Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children.
1 John 3:1 | The Passion Translation
GOD HAS FORGIVEN YOU
GOD IS A MERCIFUL FATHER
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:10-14 | New King James Version
But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
Hebrews 10:12 | New Living Translation
BECAUSE OF THE PERFECT SACRIFICE OF JESUS, YOU NO LONGER HAVE TO FEEL GUILTY ABOUT YOUR PAST SINFUL LIFE
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
Psalm 103:12 | New Living Translation
He concludes, I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
Hebrews 10:17 | The Message
You’ll stamp out our wrongdoing. You’ll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean.
Micah 7:19 | The Message
I, yes I, am the One and Only, who completely erases your sins, never to be seen again. I will not remember them again. Freely I do this because of who I am!
Isaiah 43:25 | The Passion Translation
A NEW BEGINNING
YOU ARE A NEW CREATION
King David never tried to cover up his sins and mistakes. One thing David knew through experience was that God will give you an opportunity to start all over again!
God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him. When I cleaned up my act, he gave me a fresh start. Indeed, I’ve kept alert to God’s ways; I haven’t taken God for granted. Every day I review the ways he works, I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I’m watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.
2 Samuel 22:21-25 | The Message
GOD DESIRES A NEW START FOR EVERY PERSON ON THIS PLANET
This means that, contrary to man’s perspective, the Lord is not late with his promise to return, as some measure lateness. But rather, his “delay” simply reveals his loving patience toward you, because he does not want any to perish but all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 | The Passion Translation
THIS NEW BEGINNING IS YOUR SPIRITUAL BIRTH
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
John 3:3 | The Passion Translation
SALVATION IS A NEW START
Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 | The Passion Translation
GOD DECLARES YOU NOT GUILTY, AS IF YOU’VE NEVER SINNED
It’s true that some of you once lived in those lifestyles, but now you have been purified from sin, made holy, and given a perfect standing before God—all because of the power of the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and through our union with the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:11 | The Passion Translation
Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us.
Romans 5:1 | The Passion Translation