Why am I so sure about my salvation?  The same reason you should be if you are a Christian—we are saved by grace, not by meritorious works.  It saddens me that the grace of God, one of the most edifying and reassuring truths of the Bible, is so misunderstood and abused today.  Too many people have a false sense of security because of a misconstrued concept of grace.  At the same time, many Christians have a weak hope of heaven because of an underappreciation of grace.

First, let’s make sure we understand that grace does not eliminate all kinds of work from salvation.  Works of faith are involved in both our original justification, as well as our continued salvation.

James 2:21-24 (ESV)
²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²²  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³  and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴  You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Was Abraham justified by faith?  Yes, but, by the inspired pen of James, we now know that his faith included works of obedience.  His faith was not complete until it was demonstrated by his obedience to God.  By quoting Genesis 15:6, James proves that the faith by which Abraham was justified was not mere mental assent, but was an obedient faith.

What Abraham’s faith did not include, however, was meritorious works.  This is where our hope is made sure.  Meritorious works refer to works whereby we merit or earn salvation; but, the only way to do that is by sinless living.   The power of grace is seen in that one sin takes away the ability to earn salvation.  Once we sin one time, we can no longer save ourselves but must rely on the grace of God.  Fortunately, the grace of God can overcome any sin, and it does not matter how many times it has been committed.  Grace is greater than sin (Romans 5:12-21).

Why is our hope secure?  It is because we are not saved by our own ability to be good and righteous, that is, by perfect works, but by the grace of God, which was activated in our lives when we, by faith, obeyed the gospel.  This was Paul’s primary teaching in the book of Romans.  When Paul argued that we are saved by faith and not by works, he was not saying that obedience does not play a part in our justification.  He was referring to works of the law (Romans 3:28), a law that demanded perfection because it made no permanent provision for sin (Hebrews 10:1-4).  The point is, we are saved by faith rather than by living perfectly in an attempt to be saved by our own righteousness (Romans 9:30-10:4).

While our aim should always be to avoid sin, none of us do that perfectly (Romans 3:23).  The good news is, by the grace of God, we do not have to be sinless.  God’s grace has provided for us a way to make it to heaven even though we sin from time to time.  He provided a sacrifice for our sins that was sufficient.  That sacrifice, of course, was no one less than His one and only Son, Jesus Christ (Read the book of Hebrews).  The blood of Christ washed away our sins when we obeyed the gospel (Hebrews 9:11-14), and continues to do so whenever we sin, provided we repent and confess our sins to God (1 John 1:5-10).  Furthermore, when we sin, Jesus makes intercession for us, securing for us a continual relationship with our heavenly Father (1 John 2:1).

All these things we have by the grace of God (a sufficient sacrifice, soul-cleansing blood, and an advocate with the Father), making our salvation both attainable and sustainable.  That is the reason for our hope—it is based on the grace of God, not our personal goodness or perfection.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.