If your motivation for trusting in the blood of Christ for your salvation was based upon your fear of hell and wanting “fire insurance,” then that was a wisedecision:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10a).
It is certainly not a foolish thing to choose eternal life over eternal death and separation in hell. Once you have chosen to obey the gospel, Satan will begin to attack the assurance of your insurance.
Satan uses your doubt to hold you back from progressing in God’s will and plan for your life. He knows that when you are on the defensive, you are not on the offensive. You are not fulfilling the Great Commission.
When you constantly doubt your belief, you are denying His witness (the Holy Spirit) within yourself and you are in danger of calling Him a liar.
“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son” (1 John 5:10).
The gospel message is as simple and easy as it gets. Satan wants to add all that you will allow him to add in order to weigh down the simplicity and beauty of the gospel. There is incredible POWER in the simplicity of the gospel message.
The devil hates the power that is contained within the gospel. He cannot stand how easy it is for you to overcome hell. He knows full-well that Jesus conquered your sins on the cross when He uttered the famous phrase, “It is finished!”
“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30).
Satan knows that you have total victory and eternal life through your trust in the blood of Christ and His resurrection. Very simple yet very powerful:
“I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:12-13a).
You have already overcome Satan because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
“And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 2:1b, 1:9).
It just does not get any simpler than that.
If Satan can get you consumed with worry over your eternal state, you will be sidetracked from repenting of the sins weighing you down in your temporary state. Amazingly enough incessant worry can be used by your flesh as an ongoing excuse to repeat the same sins over and over again.
“Well, if I’m not going to heaven anyway why does it matter what I do?”
In order to move past repeating the same sins you have to have genuine repentance over those specific sins. We must judge ourselves and repent in order to change the behavior for which we are asking forgiveness.
I do not believe it is possible for anyone to obey the gospel without first having a genuine overall repentance for their sinful lives. Those who reject the gospel do so out of their own pride and hatred for God. If you have obeyed the gospel from your heart then you know what genuine repentance is.
Would you agree that you cannot progress in your walk with the Lord if you lack understanding of His will for your life? The recipe for attaining understanding is also given in the same verse as the recipe for wisdom:
“A good understanding have all those who do His commandments” (Psalm 111:10b).
Are you troubled by the requirement to keep His commandments? Well don’t be. His commandments are not burdensome:
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).
“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).
What does Jesus mean when He says that His burden is “light?”
He means that you do not have to work through all of the priestly requirements of the Old Testament Law in order to be saved. We all know what Jesus thought of the outward works of the Pharisees compared to their inward hearts:
“Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:28).
God would rather show you mercy and fill you with His knowledge based upon your trust in Him than your ability to keep the whole law.
“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).
Do the following commandments sound hard or “easy” to you?
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23).
I pray that you would not find it hard to trust in the blood of Christ and to love your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Those are His commandments and they are not burdensome.
Satan wants your mind to be consumed with worry about each and every sin until you’re trembling with doubt. There is no love and progress in doubt, just a heavy burden.
We do not need to fear when we trust in the blood of the Lamb and love and forgive one another. When we abide in hate we open the door to fear. When we abide in love we open the door to security.
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
Finally, after you trust in the blood of the Lamb and have committed yourself to abiding in His commandments to serve and love, then you will be filled with true love and praise for the Lord.
Here is the entire “wisdom” verse that was quoted at the beginning of this article:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever” (Psalm 111:10).
The moment you trusted in the blood of Christ for your salvation, you were given the astounding gift of the Holy Spirit. He guarantees your salvation until the day of redemption.
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
The consequence of quenching the assurance of the Holy Spirit through sin is doubt, plain and simple. Move past doubt and on toward confidence so that you can continue in your love, forgiveness, and service.
“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (1 John 3:20-21).
“And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).