Our Christian Confidence
Randall Caselman
6/25/97)
Our Christian Confidence
The words of an old song go like this:
Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes me anxious thought,
Do I love the Lord or no?
Am I His or am I not?
This song reflects the insecurity of many today who are uncertain about their salvation. Are we destined to die with our fingers crossed, hoping that we will be saved? Scripture teaches us that we can know. John writes,
My little children, I write these things to you who believe in the name of Jesus, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Paul told Timothy,
I have fought the fight, finished the course, kept the faith, and I know a crown of righteousness awaits me. And here is the good news, it is not for Paul only, but for all those
who love Jesus and His coming. That’s us! Note with me the basis for our confidence:
The word of God. The prophet Jeremiah says,
it is not within man who walks to direct his own steps. We can never have the security we yearn for if we are trusting in ourselves for direction. Genuine security comes from knowing that we are right with God through His word.
His grace. If our confidence was based upon our own ability to keep all the rules (law keeping) then we would have reason to question and doubt our security. But God's grace is the basis of our confidence. Grace is God's initiative on our behalf.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God.
Grace is God's part of our salvation, faith is our part. Confidence must be a part of our faith.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom we have access, by faith into His grace. We have God's peace within because our faith, our confidence, our security is based upon His power to save us and keep us saved.
The blood of Christ. Sin is our problem. There is no security without forgiveness. Our sins have separated us from God. Get rid of sin and we can be secure...
Right? Jesus said,
this is My blood shed for the remission of sins. The Hebrew writer tells us
without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness. But Jesus, one time for all people, paid for our atonement. Paul concludes, we have
redemption through His blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.
Not only does the blood of Jesus forgive our sins when we accept Him and obey the message, it continues to forgive us daily.
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins... If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. How long will the blood of Jesus continue to forgive us? As long as we continue to walk in the light, as long as we walk in His Word, as long as we live by faith.
Note two things here. Some of us think our sins are too ugly, too awful to be forgiven... They are not! Do not limit the blood of Jesus. Secondly, some of us can't feel good about our salvation because we keep dragging up old sins and rehearsing their guilt. Don't do that. When God forgives He forgets... Sin is remembered no more. Let it be!
Well, is it possible to lose our salvation? Is there any reason for us to be concerned about our salvational security? Yes!! The Bible gives us three ways we can lose our security as believers:
When we entangle ourselves again in the world. If we have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, we are worse off at the end than we were at the beginning. It would have been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn our backs on the sacred command that was passed on to us. Does this sound like we can lose our confidence? Sure does!
By attempting to justify ourselves by law keeping alone.
You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace. We are saved by grace, justified by faith. Jesus said,
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. Rule keeping, meritorious works, will not save us nor will they maintain our confidence.
When we allow unresolved sin to remain in our lives. The Hebrew writer tells of those who have thrown away their confidence by continuing in sin and by giving up in their daily walk.
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God... So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
Security of the obedient believer is a Bible doctrine. A doctrine that we can place our confidence in. A doctrine that will give us peace, not this world's peace, but His peace. Consider these two verses from Jude and Romans,
To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy... He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord. Rejoice, and again I say rejoice!
Some have no confidence because deep down they know they have not done what God is asking them to do. What do you need to do to be right with Him?
—Randall Caselman
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