Tag: Assurance of salvation

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Life After Death

The celebration, last Sunday, of our Lord’s resurrection, is a glorious reminder that for followers of Jesus, death is not a terminus, but a transition. The hope of life after death is not an empty wish. Those who die “in Christ” do not cease to exist, smothered in eternal darkness.

In my years of pastoral ministry I have seen how this assurance has sustained God’s people. I have stood beside countless graves and have read the Bible’s promises of eternal life. Those mourners were blessed with the knowledge that their departed loved ones were “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).

In addition, there are examples in the Bible which illustrate this truth. They lead to the conclusion that death is not extinction. If we accept the Bible as truthful and trustworthy, then we will believe what it says about life after death.

Moses and Elijah

When Jesus took three of his disciples up on a mountain to pray, they had an experience that shattered their perceptions of reality. Jesus’ appearance was transformed. Suddenly his face shone like the sun, his clothes were illuminated, and the prophets Moses and Elijah showed up, talking with Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9).

Other important things happened, but what I want to point out is the matter-of-fact way in which this event is reported. Moses and Elijah were there, even though they had been off this earthly scene for hundreds of years. Yet here they were, recognizable, retaining their identity, talking with Jesus, very much alive.

What were they talking about? Luke’s gospel says they were discussing our Lord’s imminent death (Luke 9:31). It is likely that they understood how the crucifixion of Jesus would fulfill the Law, represented by Moses, and the Prophets, represented by Elijah. Then they were enveloped in a  cloud of glory and were gone.

What are we to make of this? One lesson is that God’s people of the past have continuing, happy existence with God and the scriptures want us to believe it.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

On another occasion, some of Jesus’ detractors who denied the resurrection, challenged him publicly. They spun an elaborate tale designed to make him look ridiculous for believing in the resurrection of the body (Matthew 22:23-33). Jesus answered their crude skepticism by stating that they didn’t understand the scriptures or the power of God.

He quoted Exodus 3:6 as God’s pronouncement: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He did not say “I was,” but “I am” their God. Then Jesus added, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

What does Jesus want us to believe? He wants us to believe that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, enjoying unbroken fellowship with God. This is a profound argument for life after death.

The rich man and Lazarus

Jesus told a story which was intended to arouse a sense of urgency about preparing for death. The account of the rich man in hell (Luke 16:19-31) reveals a person whose character was shaped by selfishness and greed. He was not in hell because he was rich, but because he failed to prepare for eternity by seeking God’s way of salvation, revealed in the scriptures.

The other person in the story, Lazarus, was in paradise because he was a believer. On earth he was a poor beggar. In heaven, he was rewarded for his faith with eternal happiness and peace at Abraham’s side. Abraham is the supreme biblical example of faith. Lazarus had the faith of Abraham and was associated with him in paradise.

Among other things, what our Lord is teaching is the continuing existence of individuals after death. Some go to the place of punishment, others to the place of comfort and reward.

The message of Jesus’ death and resurrection is good news for those who believe it. He said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). The consequences are serious for those who reject it. There is more than one kind of life after death.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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The Lord’s Prayer — for You

In anticipation of his death, Jesus prayed with and for his disciples. The prayer he prayed is recorded for us in John 17. In this prayer Jesus prayed for the disciples who were with him then, and for all who would believe in him in the future.

It is important for us to remember that Jesus continues to intercede for his people in heaven now, at the Father’s right hand. Reading John 17 is a wonderful way for us to restore the assurance of our relationship to him. The prayer emphasizes two facts about the Lord’s people.

First, his people do not belong to the world (John 17:6-8). They have been given to Christ out of the world. Christ has revealed to them the true nature of God and the true knowledge of God. This is eternal life (John 17:3). Believers no longer belong to the world. Rather, they belong to Christ and Christ is glorified in them (John 17:10).

This is because they received his word, understood his word, and believed his word (John 17:8). His disciples were not perfect, but they had the right commitment. This is true of all believers in Jesus. His prayer applies to us today, even though we are far from perfect (John 17:20).

The second fact about his people is that they (we) continue to live in the world (John 17:11). In his prayer, our Lord speaks of two human communities: “the world,” and those whom God has taken “out of the world.” He is not referring to the world of nature or of ordinary humanity. Jesus is talking about the world as it is organized in opposition to God.

Although we belong to God and his Son (John 17:9-10), we still live among the people who belong to this world. This places upon us a responsibility to love our neighbors and to make known to them what Christ has made known to us in the gospel. We live in this present world as Christ’s representatives.

As we read Jesus’ prayer for us, we learn that while we are here in this world, he is praying for our preservation. “I pray for them,” Jesus says, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name” (John 17:9, 11). The Lord Jesus had us in mind as he prayed. Believers today stand in the same relationship with him as the original disciples did in that day. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message” (John 17:20).

Christ prayed then and he is praying now. He is our advocate and representative in heaven (1 John 2:1-2). The book of Hebrews teaches that this fact is the basis for our assurance of salvation and our access to God in prayer (Hebrews 4:14-15).

If your faith is in Jesus, you may be sure that he is in heaven praying for you because you belong to him. I invite you to re-read John 17 to learn more about this. God will never fail to answer a prayer of his Son.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Trading Doubt for Assurance

There are people who lack the confident assurance that they possess eternal life. Some  lack assurance of salvation because they flatly deny that it is a possibility. It is arrogant, they say, to presume to know what will happen after death.

Others have doubts because of religious confusion. They question the validity of their religious experience or the teachings of a preacher. Have I done the right things? have I prayed the right prayers? Have I joined the right church?

Some people cannot recall a specific time when they received salvation, so they doubt its reality. Though believing happens at a specific time in a person’s life, some people may not know when that time was for them.

Some people lose assurance when certain sins come into their lives. They imagine that if they really had salvation, they would not have committed such sins. The normal Christian experience never includes perfection. “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2). But sin may lead to doubt and uncertainty.

John is the apostle of certainty. He uses the word “know” scores of times in his writings, and 39 times in the little book of 1 John alone. He wrote with certainty about his own experience because he had been with Jesus in person (1 John 1:1-3). He was an eyewitness of the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord. He wants his readers to have the same certainty even though they had not known Jesus in person.

This certainty is based upon the reliability of John’s eyewitness testimony about Jesus. John wants us to know that it is possible to have assurance of eternal life. Inspired by the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:6), he said, “I write these things to you  who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

So, it is not presumptuous to say that you know you have eternal life if you believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. It is a matter of trust, trust in the written word of one who was sent by Jesus to offer salvation to us in the name of God.

The salvation he wrote about is a gift of God himself. John said, “We accept human testimony, but the testimony of God is greater because it is the testimony of God which he has given about his Son. . . . And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:9-12).

John appeals to our common sense. We rely on the testimony of other people all the time. We put our faith in neighbors, doctors, pharmacists, airline pilots, restaurant owners, and bankers. John says if we trust people with our lives and possessions, it certainly makes sense to trust the promises of God.

He says that eternal life is what “God has given” to those who put their faith in his Son. It is a gift to us. It was purchased by the death of Christ at Calvary. God loves to be gracious. He loves to give freely. He loves his Son so much that he welcomes all those who come to him through their relationship to his Son.

When my youngest son was in high school sometimes his buddies would end up at our house for the evening, sometimes all night, sleeping on the beds, on the floor, on the living room couch. When Connie and I got up early there would be times when we never knew who would be there. I can recall stepping over sleeping, snoring football players in the darkness before dawn.

Here’s the thing. My sweet wife never failed to make those young men feel like family. She joyfully welcomed them to our table with heaping mounds of blueberry pancakes and bacon. They always knew they were accepted in our home because of their relationship to our son.

John is telling us we can be sure of our acceptance with God if we have a relationship to his Son. Assurance of salvation is possible because eternal life is in Jesus Christ alone. “This life is in his Son.” Entrust yourself to Jesus the Savior. Trade your doubts for assurance of eternal life in him. “Whoever has the Son has life.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner