A very basic step new Christians must take is to understand that personal assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ is not only possible, but fundamental to becoming a mature believer.

The basic issue is the answer to this simple question. "Can a person be sure they are saved." Satan wants you to answer that question with a NO! Sadly, many Christians teach the answer is no as well. This steems from a flawed view of how we are saved. Many Christians fail to understand grace and therefore fall victim to a false teaching that says Jesus only made salvation possible and we must actually take the final step ourselves.

This idea certainly appeals to our human nature and we would all like to think we are not only good enough to be pleasing to God but in fact, we have positioned ourselves before Him. Additionally, this view seemingly gives the glory to Christ as He did 90% of the work of salvation, but in fact without our 10%, His 90% is not sufficient, so in actuallity, the individuals 10% is 100%.

When Christ said "It is finished" (John 19:30) did He mean the work of salvation is indeed finished, or did He mean, it is almost finished and it is up to the individual to follow-up on what He had done and now close the deal for themselves?

The historic Christian teaching is that salvation is a free gift of God's grace to which we add nothing. If we did add something to make salvation final, that would then be the basis for us to boast about what we had done. The "good works" we do are not in order to earn our salvation, but are the fruit of our being saved.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

Other helpful Scriptures:

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