Jim's Jots and Tittles. . .

Assurance

When one is buried in baptism for the remission of sins, one is not only added to the Lord's church; Romans 8:16-17 tells us that one becomes a child belonging to God and a fellow heir with Christ.

That means we have God's promise of a home in heaven and eternal life with God.

Hebrews 6:19-20 tells us that their promise becomes the anchor for our soul and Jesus has entered heaven as a forerunner for us. The Hebrew writer gives us assurance of that promise in Hebrews 10:23: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful."

And to convince us that we should not waver regarding our faith in God's promises, in 1 John 5:11, John writes, "And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this is in His Son."

And in Revelation 3:21, Jesus Himself describes this eternal life: "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." That is the promise of becoming fellow heirs with Christ.

But in order to receive that heirship we must be diligent to have an assurance that is faithful until the end.

There are two words that describe this assurance we should have. One deals with the quantity of our assurance. It means to fill up to the top so that nothing is wanting. It means to make complete, to fill to the brim.

The Hebrew writer describes this in Hebrew 6:11: "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end."

In Hebrews 10:22 he writes, "Let us draw near with a sincere heart of full assurance of faith...."

The other word deals with the quality of our assurance. It means to have a firm trust, a solid confidence with the idea of that which has a firm foundation, or that of having a real being.

So the Hebrew writer writes in Hebrews 3:13-14, "But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called "today," lest anyone of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold firm until the end."

With this kind of assurance we can be as sure as Paul was as he was nearing the end of his life: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness...." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

—Jim Hunt