The assurance of our salvation is based on the Spirit’s witnessing with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). We not only have the Word of God outside of us confirming the fact that we have been saved, but we also have the Spirit within us witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God and that God is our Father. Everyone who believes in the Lord enjoys addressing God as “Abba, Father.” It is a spontaneous matter for us to call God “Abba, Father.” Moreover, every time we call Him “Abba, Father,” we feel sweet and comfortable within. This is because we are children begotten of God, we have God’s life, and the Spirit of God’s Son has entered into us. Concerning our father in the flesh, it is spontaneous and sweet for us to call him “Father.” Therefore, since we enjoy calling God “Abba, Father,” and do it spontaneously, even with a sweet and comfortable sensation, this proves that we have God’s life and are children begotten of God. Hence, by the Spirit’s inner witnessing with our spirit we can know with certainty that we are God’s children and that we are saved. This is a proof within us, which we may call the inward proof.
The assurance of salvation is based on the fact that we love the brothers. First John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” Since God is love (1 John 4:16) and since we have His life, we surely have the divine love. Furthermore, since we have been begotten of God, we certainly love those who have been begotten of Him (1 John 5:1). When a saved one sees a brother in the Lord, he has an affection for him and even loves him in such a manner that is incomprehensible to himself. Therefore, our love toward the brothers in the Lord is a proof by which we know that we have been saved. This is a proof of our experience of life, which we may call the proof of love. By our believing—believing in the Lord—we have life and have passed out of death into life; by our loving—loving the brothers—we know that we have life and that we have passed out of death into life.
Therefore, by the clear words of the Bible, by the sensation in our spirit, and by the experience of love, we can know with certainty that we are saved.
Now we will go on to see the security of salvation. Our salvation not only can be proved with assurance, but it is also secure. According to the revelation of the Bible, the security of salvation is demonstrated by the following twelve items:
First, our salvation is secured by the invariable God. James 1:17 says that with the Father there is “no variableness or shadow cast by turning.” James clearly indicates that God is not variable, and with Him there is no shadow cast by turning. He is not like the heavenly bodies, which turn and whose shadows also change, as seen in the waxing and waning of the moon while it revolves around the earth and in the eclipsing of the sun by the moon. God is secure; He is not variable, not changeable. Therefore, since He has saved us, our salvation can never be changed, and we shall never perish.
Our salvation is secured by God’s unchanging will. Hebrews 6:17 speaks of “the unchangeableness of His [God’s] counsel.” Since God’s counsel, that is, God’s will, is unchangeable, the fact that He chose us and predestinated us before the foundation of the world that we might receive His salvation (Eph. 1:4-5, 11) is also unchangeable. Since He chose and predestinated us in eternity past that we might receive sonship and become His inheritance, He will carry it out and will not fail. Hence, our salvation is secure.
Our salvation is also secured by God’s inseparable love. First John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son a propitiation concerning our sins.” If we are saved because we love God, then our salvation is not reliable. However, we are saved because God loved us; that is, our salvation is of God’s love. Since God is unchanging, His love is also unalterable. Moreover, His love toward us is an inseparable love (Rom. 8:39). Hence, nothing can separate us from His love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither things present nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Because of God’s inseparable love, His salvation within us will never fail; it is forever secure and unchanging.