I can remember back in the day when my mother would get on me for something, and she would ask me for my excuse.
For instance, she would get on me by asking, “why did you not mow the yard like I had asked you to?” And then she would follow that up by saying “and don’t you begin to tell me …”
We are people with all kinds of excuses. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard someone say “well, I didn’t know.” Perhaps, every teenager ever has used that one. But we all know that most excuses do not work.
Worse is when our excuse becomes our assurance. A false assurance. In churches (and out of churches) today, we have so many people thinking that they are saved due to a weak excuse. A false assurance.
I know people who think they are saved and going to heaven because they 1) grew up in church, or 2) they have been baptized, or 3) they walked the aisle, or 4) they prayed the prayer, or 5) their dad is a deacon, or 6) their grandfather was a minister, or 7) they are pretty good person.
The Bible only teaches that faith and repentance toward Jesus is what saves you. None of those excuses or any others will work. If you are trusting in those or something like those, then you have a false assurance.
In Luke 3:8, John the baptist tells the folks who are coming to baptized to “bear fruits in keeping with repentance”. In other words, live a life that looks like you are saved. But then after that he warns them, “And do not begin to say to yourselves ‘we have Abraham as our father.’”
I love this. It reminds me of how my mother used to train me up. John knew that these people had a false assurance that just because they were in Abraham’s family that they were in good standing with God. Thats not true. Good standing with God only comes through faith in Jesus and repentance away from self.
So be sure that you are saved. Don’t have a false assurance.