The assurance of salvation means that we can be assured of our salvation. Assurance is not merely a matter of knowing but also a matter of being certain.
Many think that faith is a matter for the present and that salvation is a matter for the future; they think that even though a person believes now, he will be saved only in the future. But the Bible very clearly, accurately, and assuredly tells us that once a person believes, he is saved. When a person believes, it is not that he is about to be saved; rather, he is saved. When a person believes, he is saved in the present; he does not have to wait for the future. There is no separating distance between faith and salvation.
1. “Your sins have been forgiven you because of His name”; “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1 John 2:12; Col. 1:14).
In these two Bible verses we must emphasize the word have. Our sins have been forgiven because of His name. These verses do not say that our sins will be forgiven but that they have been forgiven because of His name, not because of our works or anything of ourselves. If forgiveness was dependent on our works or anything of ourselves, we would need to wait until we worked it out before the matter could be decided. But this is not the case. Instead, forgiveness is because of His name. Once we believe in and confess the Lord’s name, we participate in His name and become related to His name; therefore, because of His name our sins have been forgiven. When we confess the Lord’s name and possess His name, our sins are forgiven at that time because of His name. Thus, God has forgiven all our sins. We do not need to wait for them to be forgiven in the future. At the time we believed, He forgave us. Moreover, He has forgiven all our sins and all our evil, not just a certain portion of our sins. Thus, once we believe, all our sins are forgiven and we are saved.
2. “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified” (1 Cor. 6:11).
We must emphasize but and were in this Bible verse. Being washed, sanctified, and justified are some things that have been accomplished. The moment we believed in the Lord, accepted Him as our Savior, and participated in His accomplished redemption for us on the cross, God washed us, sanctified us, and justified us. We were washed, we were sanctified, and we were justified.
3. “Having been reconciled” (Rom. 5:10).
Once we believed in the Son of God and received what His death accomplished for us, we were reconciled to God. Once we believe and partake of the death of God’s Son, we are reconciled to God. We do not have to wait to be reconciled in the future.
4. “Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1).
Once we believe in Christ and are joined to Him by faith, He sets us free, releasing us from the curse and bondage of the law. He has set us free. This is an accomplished fact; we do not need to wait for the future.
5. “God...has regenerated us”; “Having been regenerated” (1 Pet. 1:3, 23).
We must emphasize the words has and having when we read these two verses. God has regenerated us; we do not need to wait until the future for regeneration. When we believe and receive the Lord who died and resurrected, God regenerates us by putting His life into our spirit by His Spirit. Therefore, we were regenerated when we believed. Because we are regenerated, we do not need to wait to be regenerated in the future.
6. “He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).
In this verse the words has,does not, and has passed are so precious. We really should pay attention to them. As soon as we believe, we have eternal life; we do not come into judgment or condemnation, and we pass out of death into life. When we hear the Lord’s word, the gospel, and believe it, we have eternal life and do not have to wait until the future to obtain it. The word will does not come between believing and obtaining eternal life; instead, there is the word has. With will there is a gap; but has means immediately. He who believes has. There is no need to wait for the future. At the time of believing, one has eternal life, does not come into judgment, and passes out of death into life. We were in Adam, and we were condemned and under judgment because of sin. Now that we have believed into Christ, we cannot come into judgment because of righteousness. We are justified by God and become the righteousness of God in Christ because He bore our sins on the cross, became sin for us, and received the judgment that we should have received in Adam. Thus, we escape the condemnation and judgment in Adam and do not come into judgment or condemnation. Furthermore, in Adam we not only had the problems of sin and condemnation, but we also were in death. On the cross Christ not only bore our sins and received the condemnation for us but He also tasted death to the fullest and nullified death for us (Heb. 2:9; 2 Tim. 1:10), releasing His life and dispensing it into us. Therefore, by believing into Him, we not only escaped from condemnation but we also escaped from death. We are not under condemnation, and we have passed out of death into life. Since the Lord tasted death to the fullest and destroyed death for us, we have passed out of death into life by believing into Him and being joined to Him. Therefore, once we believe, having eternal life, not coming into judgment, and passing out of death into life are not matters in the future. Instead, once we believe, we have eternal life, we do not come into judgment, and we pass out of death into life. These are not things we will have in the future; they are things we obtain in the present.
7. “In Him also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13).
When we believed in the Lord, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Those who are sealed with the Holy Spirit surely have received grace and are saved. Therefore, once we believe in the Lord, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, we receive grace, and we are saved.
8. “Who has saved us”; “He saved us” (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5).
The past tense in these passages is very important and very precious. Thank God that there are many words in the past tense in His holy Word. Forgave, washed, released, received, and saved are all in the past tense. I am afraid that when people read the Bible they fail to notice that these words are in the past tense. The phrases He saves us and He saved us are as different as the heavens and the earth. Thank God the Bible does not say, “He saves us” or “He will save us”; instead, it says, “He saved us.” When we believed, He saved us. When we believed, God saved us! Therefore, the moment we believed, we were saved. Hallelujah!