by Robert Fudge

We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 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.

In the previous articles we have sought to show the basis of our salvation and thus know that we are saved. We have seen that it is God who provides us with salvation. It is beyond our ability to attain on our own, it cannot be earned. This is due to the fact that we are lost because of our sin and the penalty for sin is death. Jesus died in our place for our sin to become sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God in him. That is, we can have our sins forgiven because of what God has done through Jesus on our behalf.

However, not everyone will be saved. We must accept this gracious salvation by faith. Saving faith must be an active and obedient faith. Specifically, the Bible teaches us that we must confess our belief in Jesus as the Son of God (Rom. 10:9-10). It also teaches that as a demonstration of faith we must repent of our previous sinfulness and be baptized (Acts 2:38). We are told it is at the point we are baptized that our sins are washed away (Acts 22:16). We are then in Christ and God adds us to his church, the saved.

John tells us in I John that we must continue to “walk in the light” to have this salvation. This means we live for him. John describes this as obeying God’s commands and practicing love for one another. As we walk in the light there will still be times that we fail to live up to God’s expectations. As God’s children our heart and our life is set on pleasing him and we are told that the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us. So as Paul puts it in Romans 8:1: “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

If you are in Christ, you can know that you are saved and can go to bed at night with full assurance that you are right with God. Not because you have done everything right but because you are forgiven by the blood of Jesus.

Dear God, I thank you for your great and marvelous plan of salvation through your Son, Jesus Christ. Help me to know your grace and therefore your assurance that you have forgiven me for all the things I have done wrong. Help me to live for you by doing your will and loving others. Fill me with your Spirit that I may be more like you. In Jesus name I pray.

May God bless each of us as we live for him.