Blessed Assurance As A Personal Possession

Blessed Assurance As A Personal Possession

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long!” Fanny J. Crosby wrote over 9000 hymns during her lifetime but none is dearer to my heart than those words from “Blessed Assurance.” When singing them, it becomes evident that Blessed Assurance is a personal possession that God wants each of His children to experience.

Such was the case in Fanny Crosby’s daily walk with the Lord. She had blessed assurance throughout her life and God did great things through her surrendered life. Although blinded by an illness at the age of 6 weeks, she never became bitter. One time a preacher sympathetically remarked, “I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many gifts upon you.” She replied quickly, “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?” “Why?” asked the surprised clergyman. “Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!”

Now Fanny Crosby shows us what it means to have Blessed Assurance as a personal possession. That is someone who sees with 20/20 vision through the spiritual eyes of faith. But one might question, “What gives one the Blessed Assurance that Jesus is mine?” You say, “I believe I am a Christian; I’ve repented of my sins and put my trust in Christ but I don’t feel I have assurance. What am I missing?” To address these concerns, the Apostle Paul’s points out 5 truths we need to understand before Blessed Assurance is experienced on a daily basis. Listen to Paul’s words to the churches at Ephesus:

“But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5. even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace, you have been saved), 6. and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. 7. in order that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. 10. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:4-10)

The first truth of salvation we need to understand to experience Blessed Assurance is that GOD MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST. Listen again to Ephesians 2: 4-5: “But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5. even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace, you have been saved), An interesting paradox occurs when God makes you alive together with Christ: the dead live, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the empty are filled, the hungry are fed and the weary rest. We are made alive to a life we never dreamed existed -- a life that brings enrichment and fulfillment. The promise of our Lord in John 10:10 is experienced first hand: “I am come that they might have life, and that hey might have it more abundantly.”

Notice also, the causative agent. God made us alive not we ourselves. We were dead. There was noting we could contribute to our cause other than a corpse in need of life. All glory, all credit and all claim goes to God for He is rich in mercy and His love for us is great (John 3:16, 1 Cor. 6:19, 20). This salvation has brought us life and that life is found in Christ and Christ alone. We are separated from the enslaving power of our sins and now together with Him. We will never be alone again -- we will never be left behind or forsaken because grace and mercy was extended to us at the Cross and we accepted it as truth, repented and believed.

The second truth we need to understand to experience blessed assurance is that GOD HAS RAISED US UP WITH CHRIST (VS.6). We have been raised to a new level of existence – to heights the carnal eyes can never see. We have a life available that exists on a higher plain and that life is found in Christ and Christ alone. It is a life of faith that desires to seek things above not things of the earth (Colossians 3:1-3). It is a life that should challenge us to shed the grave clothes of our old existence and put on the righteous robes of our new existence (see 2 Corinthians 5:17) found in Christ everyday. It is a life that should exchange our carnal eyes for spiritual eyes. Also, being raised up with Christ is not only an event but also a process. The Apostle Paul said, “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,” (Ephesians 4:15) He told the churches at Galatia, “my children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4;19) And Paul tells us in Romans 8:29: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29)