Curtis Smale

Assurance


Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus, who shed His blood for the washing away of all our sins, who was crucified on the cross, who died for all of our sins, according to the Scriptures, who was buried, and who was resurrected from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)

A person can know from the Bible that salvation is an eternally secure, permanent, irrevocable gift of God, received in a moment of faith.

A person can make an idol out of the truth of eternal security.

A person can desire the assurance of salvation, and focus on assurance.

A person can make an idol out of the experience of assurance.

But until a person believes in Jesus, he or she is not saved.

And I believe what a lot of believers are looking for is assurance. Here’s how to get it. It’s not by focusing on assurance. It’s by focusing on Jesus. If you actively believe in Jesus, the Holy and only begotten Son of God, our Savior from sin, death, and Hell, in the present moment, you will know and experience the blessed assurance of your eternally secure salvation.

Let us all believe in, worship, and trust, our Savior Jesus.

Curtis Smale

13 comments

  1. In the Book of Numbers, when the Israelites were being bitten by deadly snakes, Moses held up the brass serpent on a pole, and all who looked at it were saved from the snake bites.

    Dr John R Rice used to say it was not the brass serpent that saved, nor even the glympsing of the brass serpent (even the blind who looked were saved), but it was the simple “faith” to turn and look. Have the faith of a mustard seed and look. That simple.

    Rice went on to say it was not even the “deepness” of faith that saved, for surely some believed more than others, but the “object” of faith; as long as there was just enough faith to turn one ‘s head toward the object, the pole.

    I sure hope John R Rice was correct. If so, then, if we have enough faith to “look to the cross”, accept 1 Cor 15: 1-4., then we should be saved. The object of the look is the cross.

    God does not change from OT to NT. Even a child has sense enough to look at a pole, or look at the cross. So why, at times, do we doubt our salvation?

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  2. If you can believe this, some Lordship salvation teachers will horribly twist even anti-works passages like Moses and the serpent, to fit their own view of the gospel. I’ve seen one who implied that looking at the serpent would have been hard work, because there were so many Israelites that only a few could have possibly seen it. Another says that behind the scenes, the Philippian jailer in Acts 16 must have been told much more than what is written – to repent of his sins and so forth. I almost wonder if Lordship “Bible study” consists of staring at the passage until you can dream up a back story that supports LS.

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  3. Yes, I have often wondered if there were more backdrop to the “philippian jailer”, the “woman at the well”, and the “brass serpent”. It does seem too simple to believe. But, I came to the conclusion that salvation is more important than anything in the universe. “What good is it to gain the whole world but lose our soul?”, pretty well tells us the value of salvation.

    If salvation is that priceless, why would the authors of the Bible so accidentally, or especially on purpose, leave out a backdrop that would alter the true meaning of salvation?

    Arguing with LS folks is like arguing with a sign post. They cherry pick the verses that back their views. Might as well just walk away.

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  5. Communicated with a Mormon via utube today. He was telling me why only Mormons are saved, and what it takes to be saved, and why everyone else is denied the assurance of salvation. Basically:

    be baptized in a Mormon Church, take allegiance to Mormon faith and Book of Mormon, repent of every sin, never commit the sins again;

    repeat the sin again and all the other sins previously forgiven have now become unforgiven, never commit the same sin over and over, even minor sins, obey Jesus, follow Jesus, keep all the Mormon laws, keep all 10 commandments;

    you cannot be saved in your sins, so deny yourself all ungodliness, pay tithes to Mormon Church (this is probably the most important), take communion only from Mormon Church, never forget it is by grace you are saved after all you can do,

    And always, always remember–THE GOSPEL IS GOOD NEWS.

    Good News??? Matthew 11: 28-30 says to come to Jesus, His yoke is easy, and He will give us rest.

    Is this rest?

    Salvation, under these conditions, is worse than probation. It is a curse.

    Gal: 3:10. …all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.

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  6. Are other denominations any better than Mormons? I have a Catholic friend who will tell you that the Catholic Church teaches basically the same, as to works, and no matter how good we are, that one cannot be assured of salvation until after death.

    On the death bed, be prepared to wake up in heaven or hell. If you are bad and lucky, you will wake up in purgatory, the lesser of hell and heaven.

    I have a Seven Day Adventist friend who says we are saved by grace, but Jesus renders an “investigative judgement” of our life (after death). They are right back to works.

    Presbyterians, Methodists, Jehova Witnesses, Calvinists , Lutherns, all teach works.

    You are right, Curtis, they all teach hell, not salvation, and none of them can really be assured of salvation.

    No assurance of salvation is absolutely living in hell here on earth. You could not have said it better.

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