David grew up in the church. If the church doors were open, David was there. This was mainly because his father was the pastor, but still—David was in church nearly everyday.
As a teenager, he became increasingly aware of his sin and, one evening, decided to walk the aisle during Wednesday night youth group. The gospel was finally becoming real to him and he was well aware of his need for a Savior. On that wonderful night, David repented of his sins and trusted in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Decades later and David is still following Jesus. He goes to church, prays, and even preaches for his church on occasion. He communes with the risen Lord. But if he’s honest, he has a major problem. David has little to no assurance of salvation.
He’s spoken with his pastor, with his fellow church members, and even peruses various parachurch ministry websites to seek more answers. And yet, when rubber meets the road, he’s left confused, frustrated, and discouraged. He knows he believes in Jesus, yet too often he finds himself asking, “Am I even a Christian?” He knows he walked the aisle in high school, but there’s still something nagging him, a hindrance in his relationship with Jesus that is too tough to get over.
Is This You?
Did I just describe your Christian walk? Did your ears perk up, knowing this is your situation? If it is, that is perfectly okay. All Christians, to some degree, will struggle with assurance of salvation. But some will struggle with assurance so heavily, so severely, that it eats at them day and night with no end in sight. Many claim Christians can lose, or even give back, their salvation. That is unbiblical. Christians can, however, lose the assurance of their salvation. When we take our gaze off of Jesus and the glory of His finished work, our assurance of salvation sails away and we are stuck wondering whether we truly believe or not.
Believer, is that you? God wants you to know you have eternal life (1 John 5:13). Having assurance of salvation is possible, indeed, attainable. Below are (at least) three questions to ask that will help with assurance.
Do You Desire Sanctification?
When God saves a person, He also plants within them the desire to become more like His Son. Just as natural as breathing, being made more into the image and likeness of Jesus is something all Christians should desire. So, you must ask yourself, Do I sincerely desire to be sanctified, to be made more holy, more like Jesus?
If you answer Yes, that’s a sign of God’s saving grace. No unbeliever truly cares to be like Jesus. They may give Him lip service, but it’s all superficial. In the end, they are apathetic to the things of God. If you answer No, however, perhaps it’s time to examine your faith.
Even if we desire to become more like Jesus, we must remember sanctification, unlike justification, is a gradual process. Whereas being declared right with God is instantaneous, becoming more like the Son is a journey throughout our entire lives. Therefore, we must not despair when our sanctification feels stunted.
Do You Hate Your Sin?
When God saves a person, He changes their desires. An individual who once loved sin and hated God, now loves God and hates sin. So, you must ask yourself, Do I genuinely hate my sin?
If Yes, then you are on the right track. Hating sin is certainly evidence of regeneration. Because on the flip side, if you answer No, then you should reflect on whether you truly believe or not. Christians, perhaps, will have moments or periods of falling into sin—that will happen because we’re still sinners. But the Christian’s attitude toward sin should be one of hatred, of malice, or vitriol—and it’s also crucial in our attempts to kill it.
Puritan John Owen said:
Hatred of sin as sin, not only as galling or disquieting, a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lie at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification.
Owen is correct. Christians must hate sin.
However, we must be careful not to put too much weight on this answer, for we do not base assurance of salvation solely on our hatred for sin or a changed life. Must both of these things be present in the Christian? Absolutely. But neither are the sole basis for our salvific assurance.
Are You Looking to Jesus?
The ultimate foundation of our assurance of salvation is not our ability to hate sin or our desire to be made more like Jesus. No, the cornerstone of our assurance rests in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So, you must ask yourself, Am I trusting in the finished work of Christ?
The basis of our assurance lies in the perfect, complete work of Jesus. It’s not the intensity of our faith or the quality of our good works, but Jesus’s work alone.
D.A. Carson said this in a popular sermon:
We overcome him by the blood of the lamb. There is the ground of all human assurance before God. There is the ground of our faith. Not guaranteeing intensity of faith—so fickle are we. It’s not the intensity of our faith but the object of our faith that saves. They overcome him on the ground of the blood of the lamb.
Friend, are you weary? Believer, are you discouraged? Christian, are you frustrated? Look to Jesus Christ and His finished work for you as the grounds for your assurance. Yes, look at what God has done in your life as evidence, but the foundation of your assurance must be on Jesus and Him alone.
We can have assurance of salvation because our salvation rests not on our good deeds or fickle faith, but solely on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the best news!
Enjoy my writing? Perhaps you’ll like my newest book, Taking No for an Answer: How to Respond When God Says No to Our Prayers.
Blake Long 
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