Assurance of Salvation
ICS Daily Devotions
Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
If you are a believer in Christ, you have been redeemed and forgiven through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. What is the significance of Jesus’ blood? Because God is a holy God, He cannot tolerate and must judge sin, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Therefore, someone or an animal must take the sinner’s place by shedding blood. Jesus shed His blood for us. He was the best substitute for us because He is sinless and He is God. We have the right to stand in God’s presence, and we have peace with Him because the blood of Jesus has settled the sin issue for us once and for all. We have escaped the wrath of God towards sin; we are justified, which means being made righteous and acceptable by God.
Romans 5:9 (NKJV) Much more than, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
We need to remember that there is a second death that follows physical death. This is the spiritual death mentioned in Revelations 2:11. However, when someone receives Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, they have crossed over from death to eternal life with God. Eternal life is obtained through faith in God because redemption is solely the work of God and has nothing to do with the individual—it is purely the abundance of God’s grace towards humanity. It is God’s desire for everyone to spend eternity in His presence. This is the very reason He came to restore humanity to Himself.
John 1:12 (NKJV) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
All of us have been given free will to choose. Though we can either choose or reject Jesus, because we are all spiritually bankrupt, it would be wise to choose Jesus and His salvation plan back to God because there is no other way back to God.
Once we have made the personal decision to accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are children of God. God has given us eternal life after death, and this life is found in His Son, Jesus Christ. Whoever has Jesus in His life will continue to live, though he dies. This is the assurance of our salvation.
1 John 5:11-12 (NKJV) And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Sermon Series：The Time is Now
