«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　1 John 2:12 I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you because of His name.

　　 5:13 I have written these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who believe into the name of the Son of God.

　　 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers……..

　　Many people consider that believing is a present matter and that receiving salvation is a future matter, that is, that a man believes today and will be saved in the future. However, the Bible tells us clearly and definitely that at the moment a man believe, he is saved (Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:10). It is not that he will be saved in the future, but that he is already saved today. He is saved at the very time that he believes. Salvation immediately follows believing, for there is no space of time between the two.

　　First, the assurance of our salvation is based on the Word of God (1 John 5:13). Through the Bible God tells us and testifies to us concerning the redemption which He has accomplished for us through His son; through the Bible He also reveals to us and bears witness concerning the salvation that has been wrought in us through the Spirit in His son. Therefore, by the word of God in the Scriptures we know that we are saved. The Scripture verses quoted in the foregoing section concerning our receiving salvation at the moment we believe are not only God's revelation and promise to us, but they are also His covenant and written evidence to us. By His word in the covenant and by the written evidence we can know, even with confidence and assurance, that once we believe in the Lord, we are forgiven of our sins, freed, washed, sanctified, justified, and reconciled to God, we have eternal life and shall not perish, we have passed out of death into life and we are saved.

　　The assurance of our salvation is based n the Spirit's witnessing with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). We not only have the Word of God outside of us confirming the fact that we are saved, but we also have the Spirit within us witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God and God is our Father. Everyone who believes in the Lord enjoys addressing God as the “Abba, Father.” It is a spontaneous matter for us to call God ‘Abba, Father.” Moreover, every time we call him “Abba, Father,” we feel sweet and comfortable within. This is because we are children begotten of God, we have God's life and the Spirit of God's Son has entered into us. Concerning our father in flesh, it is spontaneous and sweet for us to call him “Father.” Therefore, since we enjoy calling God “Abba, Father.” And do it spontaneously, even with a sweet and comfortable sensation, this proves that we have God's life and are children begotten of God. Hence, by the Spirit's inner witnessing with our spirit we can know with certainty that we are God's children and that we are saved.

　　The assurance of salvation is based on the fact that we love the brothers. First John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” Since God is love (1 John 4:16) and since we have His life, we surely have the divine love. Furthermore, since we have been begotten of God, we certainly love those who have been begotten of Him (1 John 5:1). When a saved one sees a brother in the Lord, he has an affection for him and even loves him in such a manner that is incomprehensible to himself. Therefore, our love toward the brothers in the Lord is a proof by which we know that we have been saved. This is a proof of our experience of life, which we may call the proof of love. By our believing- believing in the Lord- we have life and have passed out of death into life; by our loving the brothers- we know that have life and that we have passed out of death into life.