We sometimes sing the famous hymn, “Blessed Assurance,”  written by Fanny Crosby and Phoebe Knapp.  It is a beautiful song, but more importantly, it tells the truth.  As Christians, we have blessed assurance.  We have an assurance of fellowship with God now and a home in heaven after a while, and it does not get any more blessed than that.  Upon what do we base our assurance?

First, and foremost, our assurance is strong because it is based on Christ, not ourselves.  Regarding our original redemption, we were saved by the cleansing blood of our Savior.  That is why Paul was sure about his salvation.  He knew it was due to the sacrifice of Christ and not his meritorious works.

Philippians 3:3 (ESV)
³  For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

To put confidence in the flesh is to trust our own abilities to save us.  Though Paul had many things he could boast about in the flesh (being from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, etc.), he realized that those things could not save him.  If we rely on our outward performances and circumstances of life to save us, we are putting confidence in the flesh, and the only thing we are assured of is that we are going to fail.

This does not mean that there is nothing for us to do to be saved.  We must obey the gospel and live faithfully (Romans 1:16; Revelation 2:10).  Obeying the gospel is easy, but we have trouble once in a while living faithfully.  Thankfully, we have Jesus to help us.

The Hebrews writer said, “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper’…” (Hebrews 13:6).  How does He help us with our relationship with God?  He intercedes for us when we need God’s forgiveness.

Romans 8:34 (ESV)
³⁴  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Our blessed assurance is also founded upon the faithfulness of God.

1 Corinthians 1:9 (ESV)
⁹  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We know that God will do what He promised to do, and that is to give us eternal life.  John said, “And this is the promise that He made to us—eternal life” (1 John 2:25).  Not only will He forgive us of our sins when we repent and confess them to Him (1 John 1:9), but He has graciously given us all the tools we need to live faithfully.  He has given us His Word to guide us, prayer to strengthen us, and hope to sustain us, just to name a few.  The only way we can lose our souls as Christians is if we choose to do so.   

We indeed have blessed assurance, for we are heirs of salvation, purchased of God, born of the Spirit, and washed in His blood.  

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