ANNOUNCER: The following is a listener-supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. Welcome to Grace in Focus. The question of the day: can believers have assurance that they will ultimately rule and reign with Christ in the life to come by persevering in faith and good works. We will have a discussion on that coming right up. Thank you for being here today. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org. Coming up soon, our national annual conference, date May 18th through the 21st, and you’re invited. It is a time when we get together at a Christian camp called Camp Copass, right there on the lake, beautiful venue. And for about three days we have fellowship, we have teaching, great food and recreation, around the theme this year, “Believe in Jesus for Life.” There is also a VBS for kids. They will be studying crowns in the Bible and rewards. Get all the information you need. Get registered today at faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr. 

SAM: All right, Bob, I’ve got a question from me today. This came out of a discussion from some radio we were recording last week. But it’s a question that I’ve had in my mind pretty much since I started following GES stuff, before I started working here, but I was taking classes, watching videos. But the question is, we’re starting from the foundation that belief in Christ for everlasting life is the basis. That’s the way one receives everlasting life. We can and should have assurance of the fact that we have everlasting life that can never be lost. So that is the starting point for a believer. 

BOB: All right, before we go on, let me say, our view is at the very moment of saving faith, we do have assurance that we are secure or that we have everlasting life or we’re saved once and for all. But as you just said, that assurance may go away. We can and should have ongoing assurance, but you talk to people all the time who’ve lost assurance, you know, they call us up, they’re no longer assured, but they can remember a time when they were assured or in some cases, they can’t even remember that time, but hopefully they had it in the past. 

But as we go on to talk about your question, it’s important to recognize that at the moment of faith, the person isn’t just believing in Jesus for a shot at heaven, you know, maybe I might make it, but they’re guaranteed, they’ve got everlasting life right now, they’re saved right now, and they’re secure forever. So keep going. 

SAM: Yep. So as a believer in my walk with Christ, I’m trying to walk in the light, to maintain fellowship with God and to store up treasures in heaven, like He says, not treasures that are going to perish here. But so Paul talks about persevering and he characterizes the Christian life as a race, and we’re supposed to persevere until the end. And then I’ve heard you and Ken talk a lot about persevering in confessing Christ as the requirement for ruling and reigning with Christ in the life to come, is that accurate or is there more to it than that? 

BOB: No, that is accurate. We’re called to endure. If we endure, we’ll reign with him. 2 Timothy 2:12. If we deny Him, He will deny us, the second part of 2 Timothy 2:12. And there’s lots of verses like that. Jesus said, He who confesses Me before men, him I will confess before My Father, He who denies Me before men, him I’ll deny before the Father. So yes, this is the issue of perseverance. 

And by the way, as you know, Calvinism teaches that if you are genuinely one for whom Christ died, if you’re genuinely one of the elect, if you’re genuinely one of those who is being drawn, then you will persevere to the end of your life in faith in good works, but that’s not the teaching of the new Testament. 

SAM: That’s like a ouroboros assurance where you have to believe and persevere, but if you don’t persevere, then that means you didn’t believe in the first place. So you can’t have both at the same time and be assured. 

BOB: And what kind of assurance did you call it? 

SAM: That’s the ouroboros, the snake eating its tail. 

BOB: That’s the ouroboros. I’ve never heard of the ouroboros. The snake’s eating his own tail again. Okay, well, good.

SAM: So all right. So now we’re finally getting my question halfway in is, can believers have assurance that they will persevere until the end, or that they will ultimately rule and reign with Christ in the life to come? 

BOB: Okay. Great question. And the answer is no, but a qualified no. What I would say is this, there’s really two parts to your question. Unstated part of your question is, can I be assured that I am currently persevering? Can I be assured that I’m currently walking in the light, currently in fellowship with God? And my answer would be yes. 

But no, I cannot be certain that I will continue to walk in the light, that I will continue to be in fellowship with God, that I will continue to persevere in faith and good works. That requires time, ongoing walking in the light, ongoing obedience. And I know you deal with people on assurance all the time. Lordship salvation basically points people to look within themselves to see if they’re assured, right? 

SAM: Right.

BOB: So on what basis would Lordship salvation say that an individual would be confident that they’re going to make it into the kingdom? 

SAM: If they persevere.

BOB: And how do they know they’re going to persevere? 

SAM: If they persevere. 

BOB: But don’t they look for some kind of marks in their life. 

SAM: Right. They would look to am I persevering now? And that might mean, and I think for a lot of Calvinists, they probably do believe if I’m persevering now, I always will. 

BOB: But you can’t be certain because they see in Scripture that like in 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul says, I discipline my body and bring into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself might be adokimos which is typically translated disqualified. I would say disapproved is a better translation, but either way, everybody recognizes in 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul is not certain he will persevere. 

ANNOUNCER: It’s coming, it’ll be here before you know it. What am I talking about? The Grace Evangelical Society’s National Conference 2026, May 18th through the 21st at Camp Copass, an absolutely beautiful campground in North Texas right on the lake with lots of recreation, great food, a great place to stay, wonderful fellowship, and wonderful Free Grace Bible teaching. Information and online registration now at faithalone.org/events. First timers waive registration fees. Faithalone.org/events.

BOB: These lordship salvation preachers are calling people to look at their works, right? Pastor David Jeremiah did a sermon a few years ago in which he said there were five birthmarks of a Christian, right? And one of those birthmarks was the changes in your life. Well, you know, you can go to YouTube and see the response that we did on that. And in fact, all five, you can see our response to the five points he makes and he gets them from a wrong understanding of 1 John. And by the way, I like Dr. David Jeremiah. He’s a Dallas Seminary graduate, very conservative. He’s dispensational. For the most part, he’s right on the money, but I don’t know if he’s recently fallen into this kind of lordship salvation type of thinking, or if this is something that he’s held for a long time, but either way, it’s inconsistent with the teaching of Dallas Seminary over the years because Dallas Seminary historically taught assurance is based on the promises in God’s word alone. We don’t look to our works for assurance. 

But in any regard, if you’re a lordship salvation person, you cannot have assurance that you’re born again, because no matter how good your works are today, they’re imperfect today, and you can’t be sure you’ll fall away tomorrow. So there is no assurance of your salvation. And if you’re unsure that you’re born again, well, then you sure aren’t sure you’re going to persevere again. Are you with me? 

But if I am sure apart from my works that I have everlasting life by faith in Christ, then I can be sure that right now I’m walking in the light. And right now I am persevering. I am one who is in fellowship with God. It seems to me, as you read 1 John, it’s very clear that that is not beyond the grasp of the believer, that as long as I am in a fellowship of other believers and it’s a solid Bible teaching church, and I’m hearing the word of God taught, and I’m walking in the light of God’s word. I’m confessing my sins as I’m aware of them. Then I know that I’m in fellowship with God. I know I am persevering. That doesn’t mean I won’t fall away in the future. Because we believe assurance is apart from works, that means we can have assurance that we’re currently in fellowship. 

SAM: That’s a good answer, and that’s kind of the conclusion I’ve come to. But the reason I ask is because I see people and I’ve talked to people that they’re believers, they have assurance of everlasting life, but they turn back into works. It’s not salvation anymore, but they get into a negative mindset where they’re constantly in fear that they’re not doing enough or that God is not going to approve of them. So they know they can’t lose their everlasting life, but they make the new hyper fixation ruling and reigning with Christ, which we should, a worthy goal. We should set our eyes on that, but they live in the same kind of fear and anxiety of I’m not doing enough. I’m sinning too much. I’m not pleasing God, and so I’m not going to rule and reign with him. But is that the mindset that believers should have as born again people? 

BOB: No. Yes, we should long to rule and reign with Christ. It’s real clear. That’s all through the Scriptures. Jesus told many parables, dealing, like the parable of the minas, the parable of the talents, the parable of the just and the unjust servant, all dealing with ruling and reigning with Him, even the parable of the four soils, I believe, is touching on that issue. 

But our focus cannot be on legalism. It cannot be on the commandments. That’s Romans 7:13-25. When we focus on the commandments it causes us to sin more and not less, it causes us to become like Paul says, covetous, if I’m constantly focusing on the command, you shall not covet. 

So the key is to focus on Christ. In 1 John 2:28, he says, my little children abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink back in shame. And then the end of the body of the letter is 4:17-19. And that’s where he says, perfect love casts out fear. And the point there is, as God’s love is matured in us, we’re not afraid of the Judgment Seat of Christ. 

And so the key here is His love to be matured in us. And I think Sam, the way that occurs is by us to fall more and more in love with Him so that our focus is not on loving the commandments, our focus is on loving the Commander, loving the Lord Jesus Christ. If I love him, that produces in me the kind of confidence I should have concerning His coming. 

SAM: Right. And we learn more about him and grow in our love for him by spending time in His word and spending time with other believers who ideally are a reflection of God and of Christ. 

BOB: Amen. Well, very good. And thanks so much, Sam, for the question. And let’s all keep grace in focus.

ANNOUNCER: Be sure to check out our daily blogs at faithalone.org. They are short and full of great teaching, just like what you’ve heard today. Find them at faithalone.org/resources/blog. We would like to thank all of our financial partners who help us keep this show going. All gifts are tax deductible and very much appreciated. If you’d like to find out how you can be a financial partner, visit us at faithalone.org.

On our next episode: what does it mean that man is made in God’s image? And though fallen, do we still carry or reflect the image of God? Let’s talk about it next time and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.