Assurance of Eternal Life

Good Shepherd Community Church

Is it possible to know that your sins are forgiven and to have the assurance of eternal life? Many believe this is impossible but the Apostle John asserts that it is! In fact he wrote his gospel narrative so that people would come to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God and have eternal life. "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John 20:30-31We can not have assurance of eternal life unless we first have received this gift through faith in Jesus. John relates how Jesus defines eternal life and how people enter into it by grace through faith in him. John 3:13-18"No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.14 "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. (Christian Standard Bible) Later John writes so believers can know they have eternal life. He defines eternal life in these words, "this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son Jesus