Blessed Assurance (Part 1)

By Clifton Angel     Hearing produces faith (Romans 10:17). Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Repentance, a decision made within the mind to change the direction of your life, is required for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Confessing with the mouth leads to salvation (Romans 10:10). And the culmination of all these actions occurs when one is baptized into Christ (Rom. 6:3, 4). It is at this point that a person puts on Christ (Galatians 3:27). It is at this point that a person’s sins are washed away (Acts 22:16). It is at this point that a person is saved (Mark 16:16). It is at this point that a person has access to all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).     Yet, after this point, it is still possible for a person to sin: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Even so, it is possible for a person to so sin as to be lost eternally: For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire (2 Peter 2:20-22).     With this fact in mind, it is often the case that Christians find themselves “walking on eggshells” in fear of so sinning. Furthermore, they will sin, and then become discouraged, begin to doubt their salvation, forgetting the power of the blood of Christ, and live in misery, wondering why such misery can be found in those that are to be most happy of all. Dear friends and brethren, such doubt should not be found in a Christian, for we have blessed assurance! Paul wrote the church in Rome, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1a). From this terse and powerful passage, we will consider three primary thoughts that should dwell in the mind of every true follower of Christ.     If you are reading this and have left the faith, come back to this blessed assurance! If you are reading this and have never had this blessed assurance, let us study God’s Word together so that you might obtain it. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1a).

- Clifton Angel preaches for the Coldwater Church of Christ in Coldwater, MS. He may be contacted through that congregation's website: http://www.coldwatercofc.com/