“Assurance Where It Belongs”
When I sit down to write a sermon, I’m usually trying to fix something that seems off in our church.
Like in a, “come on guys, we could all try a little harder” kind of way.
And I do mean “we”… I always include me.
I look at our church and I think,
“Man, I want us to love each other better.
I want us to actually do the things Jesus told us to do.
I want our faith to be as obvious Monday through Saturday, as it seems to be on Sunday.
I want us to grow in discipleship.
I want us to grow in maturity…
Knowing God’s word, praying, being a people after God’s own heart.
When I say I want us to grow as a church—I don’t just mean numerically, but spiritually. But I also mean numerically.
I want us to make a real difference in this community.
I want people to come to faith because we show them what people who actually follow Jesus look like.”
So when I preach, I tend to lean into that.
I push.
I prod.
I meddle—all in Christian love of course.
Basically, I stand up here once a week and say some version of:
“Hey… we should probably take Jesus more serious than we do.”
And that’s not a bad thing. It’s true, we should.
But the danger is…
Sometimes it might come off too much like a spiritual personal trainer.
You know…
“Come on! One more rep! Dig deep! No pain, no gain.”
Pray til your knees hurt! Read Deuteronomy til your eyes bleed!
And some of you love it… you’re like,
“Yeah! Put me in, coach!” Iron plates on your Bible—start doing prayer squats.
But others are less inspired…
“Pastor… I came in limping and you shoved me to the ground—this is not helping.”
Even though I never leave it there. I always make sure we hear the sweet relief of the Gospel.
I always remind you of what Jesus has done for you—that Jesus saves.
That He forgives. It’s not about what you do.
It’s all about grace.
But I suspect some of us still leave here wondering:
“Am I faithing hard enough?”
“Am I Christianity-ing right?”
“Is my faith alive enough… consistent enough… real enough?”
And that’s not where I want us to live. I want us all to live in confidence. Assurance.
So let’s talk about that today.
Over the last few weeks we’ve covered.
The Book of James: Faith without works is dead—Faith can die. A lot of you said you loved that sermon, even if you had to put ice on your bruises after.
The Fruit of the Spirit: How we’re to live out our various vocations to love and serve our neighbor. Living Faith must always be giving away love, (Do you remember the hand tricks?) joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Then we talked about how to Abide in Jesus means to stay connected to Him: Disconnection leads to shriveling on the vine. Read your freakin’ Bible, pray, go to church, gather with believers for discipleship.
And those sermons might have sounded like…
“If we’re not bearing fruit, maybe we’re not really saved.”
“If our faith feels weak, maybe we need to faith harder.”
“If we’re struggling, maybe we’re in spiritual danger.”
Which would all be the wrong take-a-ways.
The devil is very tricky—he’ll always try and twist God’s word in harmful ways.
The last few weeks have probably landed different for some of us...
Some of us probably felt challenged—and that was good.
Some of us might have felt exposed—and that was necessary.
But some of us—if we’re honest—felt a little anxious.
Not angry.
Not defensive or discouraged.
Just… unsettled.
We didn’t hear wrong things.
We heard true things—about living faith, fruit, abiding, faithfulness, staying connected.
But something maybe started whispering in the background:
“What if my faith isn’t as alive as it’s supposed to be?”
“What if I’m more disconnected than I should be?”
“What if I don’t see much fruit in my life… what if I’ve been hoarding the fruit I do have?”
And we started looking inward.
Measuring.
Comparing.
Taking inventory.
Looking inside ourselves for evidence of our faith. And that’s dangerous, because…
Self-examination without assurance that comes from outside us doesn’t lead to repentance—it leads to discouragement.
So I’m not going to lower the bar. I’m not taking back anything I said.
But I want to move the weight of the assurance of salvation off your shoulders entirely.
One of the problems with trying to preach sermons that are both Law and Gospel, is it seems like either the Gospel gets drowned out by the Law (so we don’t hear it), or all they hear is grace, grace, grace… and it lets us off the hook—we’re not left with any urgency to change anything. We don’t hear the repentance part.
THE PROBLEM (LAW) — When Assurance Slides into the Self
Having faith in Jesus—that He saves us, not by works but purely by grace, doesn’t mean we’re not supposed to be challenged to be more faithful. Repentance and doing what God told us to do is still part of the deal. Being saved by grace doesn’t mean we’re not going to get tired and worn out trying to do what God has called us to do. He never said it’d be easy.
The book of Hebrews acknowledges that believers will genuinely grow weary without suggesting they are faithless. It redirects exhausted Christians away from themselves and back to Christ as the source of endurance and perspective.
Hebrews 12:3
Think of all the hostility he (talking about Jesus) endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.
Jesus got tired, and we will, too.
The writer of Hebrews assumes something important here:
Believers are going to grow weary.
We will feel like giving up.
Not because we don’t believe—but because we keep looking at ourselves instead of Jesus.
We keep checking ourselves against the Law to see if we’re doing okay.
That’s the wrong place to look for assurance.
Because the Law will always say, nope…
“You’re not enough.”
“You’re not strong enough.”
“You're not consistent enough.”
The Law always accuses. Don’t look inside yourself to see how your salvation is going.
It’s not good to look inside our heart… do a gut check… to see if we feel like we’re okay with God.
Our hearts are liars…
Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
That’s not the typical Disney message, is it? “Follow your heart! Be true to your heart!” No, our inner life is a very unreliable narrator when it comes to assurance. Self-examination, when disconnected from God’s promise of salvation in Jesus, just causes doubt and fear rather than peace. Our hearts are total punks and say the worst things to us all the time. Right now, my heart is telling me you’re not listening and I should just give up—which is only true of the three of you whose hearts just whispered, “this is a great time to take a nap.”
This is why looking inside ourselves is a terrible place to look for assurance.
Our heart can leave church on Sunday walking on sunshine, feel faithless on Tuesday and rocking with confidence again on Thursday.
Our heart can confuse being tired with unbelief.
If salvation depends on how faith feels,
then peace is impossible.
It’s not good to put our faith in how we feel about our faith.
God never tells us to examine our faith under a microscope.
He tells us to look to Him—don’t look inside, look to His promises.
Assurance Grounded Outside the Self
Romans 8:1
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
We say this verse every week. This is the central proclamation of the words of comfort. Our assurance… that salvation is in God’s objective declaration of our right standing with Him, rather than our subjective feelings about it. What He promises, not how we feel about it. This verse announces present, complete freedom from condemnation without any qualification.
Not less condemnation. Not no condemnation but only if you faith the right way.
Just No condemnation. Now—for those who are in Christ Jesus.
That sentence doesn’t describe how you feel about your spiritual condition.
It declares your legal status before God.
You’re not “on probation.”
You’re not “under review.”
You’re not “waiting to see what develops.”
The verdict is already in. Not guilty. Not condemned.
Receive it. Rest in it. Be thankful.
But what about when we feel off? Fragile.
Isaiah 42:3
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.”
This is God’s posture toward fragile faith, He assures us that weakness does not disqualify us from His care. Faint or struggling faith is something He preserves, treats tenderly, not something He rejects. Breaks. Snuffs out.
Jesus doesn’t say: “Come back when your bruises are healed, when the flame is stronger.”
No, He handles us gently, cups His hands around that flickering flame, and protects what little fire is left. Doesn’t let it go out.
Weak faith doesn’t repel God.
It attracts Him.
Any faith in Christ is enough faith.
John 6:37
“All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”
Our assurance is entirely in His promise to call us and receive us, not in our consistency or strength in how we feel about it. This should be a great comfort to all of us… our acceptance is firmly in Christ’s will, not our resolve. Our enthusiasm.
Even when..
We’re doubting
We’re exhausted
We’re inconsistent
Even when we say, “I’m not sure what’s going on—I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.”
Jesus didn’t say:
“Whoever comes to me and rocks it with their impressive religious fervor…”
He just said: Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
What Faith Actually Is
Faith is not confidence in your faithfulness.
Faith is clinging to Christ when you have no confidence in anything else.
Or more bluntly:
Faith doesn’t save because it holds Jesus—faith is trusting that Jesus holds you.
That’s why assurance never comes from:
Spiritual Fruit inspection (Our performance and how well we love people. How joyful we are.)
Emotional intensity (Do I feel God when I’m praying or singing? Do I feel God speaking to me when I read the Bible?)
Consistency metrics (Have I prayed three times a day? Did I do my Bible reading plan? How’s my streak going? Did I get my Bible app badge this week? How many times did I go to church this month?) It’s not about your Christian Stats.
Spiritual performance (Did God use me to speak truth to someone this week? Did I share my hope in Jesus with anyone?)
Personal Holiness (How much have I sinned? Am I being good enough to stay in God’s good graces?)
We don’t look to ourselves for assurance, assurance comes from God’s promise.
Why This Doesn’t Produce Laziness
But I have to admit, as your pastor, I always worry…
“If I say this too strongly, won’t they stop trying? Sin up a storm and live like the devil?” Exist on cheap grace. Salvation that doesn’t lead to change.
God has answers for that too. Paul says in…
Romans 6:1–2
“What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
Which he repeats a few verses later…
Romans 6:15
“What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not!”
And then in…
Titus 3:5–7 he says…
“He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”
This verse from Titus clarifies the order of salvation, showing that justification and inheritance flow entirely from God’s mercy rather than our effort. It gives us assurance by making clear that works and fruit follow salvation—they do not earn it or complete it.
But does that mean we don’t have to do what God wants? That we don’t have to change? Of course we do! It would be stupid to think God saved us so we could ignore Him all the more, running around hurting people and destroying our lives. Destroying other people’s lives. That makes no sense.
But notice the order.
God does not say:
“Try harder so you can inherit eternal life.”
He says:
“You are justified — therefore you will inherit eternal life.”
Grace isn’t supposed to produce laziness, or evil.
Grace is supposed to produce a new life. A life securely trusting in the God who saved us.
And secure people don’t stop trying to do what God wants —
they just stop performing for all the wrong reasons.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
So, here’s what I think we all need to hear:
Faith doesn’t stay alive because YOU keep it alive.
Faith stays alive because Christ continues to be faithful to you.
This is why Scripture always moves assurance of salvation away from us.
2 Timothy 2:13
“If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.”
Especially in those moments when our faith is weak. Don’t look at your weak faith, look to Christ’s unchanging character. That’s what reassures us that our salvation rests on God’s faithfulness, not ours.
Which is never permission to sin.
But it is rescue for exhausted sinners.
Even when faith feels fragile —
Jesus doesn’t loosen His grip.
Scripture never says:
“Prove your faith.”
It says:
“Remember God’s promise—put your faith in Him.”
Psalm 62:8
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”
Faith is a refuge—a hiding place, a place of rest, protection… not performance. God invites us to bring our weakness to Him. An invitation for our weak faith to live in His protection.
His refuge isn’t a reward for having strong faith.
His refuge is where He invites us to go when we can’t hold it together on our own.
So listen, all you who are weary and heavy laden…
Weak faith is still faith
Struggling faith is still faith
Tired faith is still faith
Flickering faith is still living faith
Because faith isn’t measured by the strength of the believer —
it’s measured by the object of the faith.
And the object of your faith is Christ,
who lived for you,
died for you,
rose for you,
and is interceding for you right now.
John 10:28–29
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 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. I and the Father are one.”
This is one of Christ’s strongest promises of security, placing salvation firmly in the strength of His hand. Jesus is God and nothing is stronger than God. Not even you.
That includes:
Your doubts
Your inconsistency
Your exhaustion
Your weak faith
You are not holding on to Jesus by the strength of your grip —
you’re being held by the all powerful hand of God. That’s some powerful assurance.
But here’s the question…
Can you hear that assurance without thinking you don’t have to also pursue faithfulness?
See, that’s the dilemma. God saves you and makes you holy so you can be the person He created you to be—to do the things in your life that He created in advance for you to do. I’m not letting you off the hook for that. Remember the 1st and greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Come on! God is awesome! God is love. God is faithful. He’s worth putting all your faith in. Put your faith in Him—and then do all the cool things He wants you to do with your life. Have faith in His mercy and also be faithful—faith without faithfulness is love gone cold. If you’ve drifted from your first love of God, then pray the Lord will soften your heart. Turn that flickering flame into a roaring fire.
But, Stop looking at your faithfulness to measure how saved you are, or how you feel about your faith as proof that God loves you.
He already proved that —
once —
at the cross.
Look to that for your assurance. Live in the assurance of the salvation Christ has promised you. AMEN