Assurance

John 10:  7  So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

(Observation) Jesus is the door to the pasture. The “pasture” is abundant life. The sheep know Him. There is no one else that the sheep know.

(Interpretation) I suggest to you that the sheep in the pen are those who are waiting for their “shepherd,” the promised Messiah. Further, I suggest to you that the sheep will know Jesus when he calls because they were predestined by God to be saved “and go out and find pasture,” in other words, eternal life in Heaven with Jesus. Jesus explains further in John 10 below that there are “other sheep” who also are destined to hear His voice, that is the Gentiles, who will join “the fold” when they hear the good news about Jesus and believe it.

(Cross-reference) Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

John 10: 16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

Romans 1: 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

John 14: 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John 6: 44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

(Application) God has known anyone believing the good news about Jesus from the beginning. Jews and gentiles alike discover, if and when we have believed, that according to God’s word, we also were predestined. Therefore, we are confident that we are secure in our faith because God has given it to us, just as He planned from the beginning.

What do you think? If your part in receiving the Gift of eternal life is to believe, what assurance do you have that you have in fact believed? Would there be any reason to submit your will in obedience to God’s Word if you did not believe it? Therefore, isn’t your pursuit of obedience to God’s word also your personal assurance that you have in fact believed in His promise of salvation by faith? Further, do you think the assurance in obedience also works to keep us on track until He comes?

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