Secure in Jesus

 Hebrews 10:22 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Our assurance in Christ is our foundation. Assurance: a being certain in the mind. , the confidence of mind or manner: easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty

What is our assurance?

Complete Forgiveness of sin.

Ephesians 1:7-8 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

Hebrews 10:10-12 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,

Are you a sin ranker?

On the sin scale 1 – 100: White lie = 1, steal an apple from a fruit stand = 20, adultery = 60, murder = 100.

When we rank sin, we assume that we are forgiven as long as we don’t sin.

Do you decide when God is ticked off at you and when he’s happy with you?

Will you have unrepentant sin the minute Jesus returns? Will you have unrepentant sin the moment your heart takes its last beat?

Under the old covenant, some sins were punishable by death. Under the new covenant, all sins are punishable by death. Jesus took that punishment. Paid that price.

We have the assurance in Christ's blood that we are forgiven past present and future. It’s an unchangeable state of being. Not contingent on our goodness or badness. Our doing or not doing.

When we make our state of forgiveness about something we do, the enemy will take full advantage of that. Questioning our identity, even using scripture to shake the assurances we have in Christ.

Salvation – eternal life

John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

1 John 5:11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

That life is not just a ticket or hall pass to heaven. It is our actual life. Acts 17:28 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’

Hebrews 6:13-19 For when God made the promise to Abraham since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed (Or guaranteed) with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

What are the two unchangeable things? God and God. He made a covenant with himself. Knowing that it was the only way to make it unbreakable.

An unbreakable covenant, we have that assurance!

Do you realize that the question “what if I..?” is irrelevant. What if I commit this or that sin? What if I sin too much? What if I die without confessing? If you are disputing over these and other questions, God’s oath is a confirmation that ends all disputes.

An anchor can hold the largest ship, both in calm water and in a bad storm. An anchor represents stability, safety, being unmovable, certain, and can’t be broken.

God is our anchor. Jesus’s blood sacrifice anchors us. “I” is not our anchor. Under Moses, it was “I” and God. Under the New Covenant, it’s God and God. No room for “I”. I, keeps under the law.

No one can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

John 10:29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand

Romans 8:37-39 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When you are in you are in. It’s not your church attendance, not your giving, not your serving, not your bible reading, not your knowledge of scripture, not your good or bad behavior. Christ is our anchor.

No matter what you think, good days or bad days, you are not saved by your positive thinking. You cannot preserve, enhance, modify or otherwise change your relationship with God.

Well, I just don’t feel close to God right now. This is exactly why God established a covenant based on two unchangeable things. If he would have based it on our feelings good or bad, we would no assurance whatsoever!

 Philippians 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

No fear of judgment.

Fear of judgment does not and should not motivate us. 1 John 4:17-18 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (unbeliever is not perfected in love)

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

(In Christ) God does not punish us for our sins. This burden he set squarely on the shoulders of Jesus. He may discipline us in a way a father disciplines a child. Motivated by love and instruction. But, It’s a mistake to equate discipline with punishment. God is not out to get us. When we are tempted to believe this, wisdom and scripture support the fact that Jesus bore ALL sins, once for all.

We live in a fallen world and any sin may still have earthly consequences. But, Jesus took our judgment upon himself. To say otherwise or go beyond that, causes fear and uncertainty. The consequence of that is living with no assurance other than if I behave, I’ll be ok and God won’t judge me.

Romans 8:31 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Embrace your Security in Christ!