Run To Win The Prize

For several years I have recommended Schreiner and Caneday's The Race Set Before Us as the best treatment of the Bible's teaching on assurance and perseverance.

Contrary to what others say, I don't think it is an easy topic to come to grips
with, if we are going to be faithful to all the Bible's data.

Some Christians emphasise that God promises salvation to all who believe, but do not account for the many passages which urge us to persevere, threatening us with God's judgment if we don't.

Other Christians notice all the passages that say that only those who endure to
the end will be saved, and that God will judge us according to our works, and so
emphasise continuing to follow Christ, but do not account for the many glorious promises that when we believe in Christ, our salvation is certain.

A few Christians try to factor both in, and so teach that our salvation is
certain AND that we must persevere.

I thought the best treatment of this was in Caneday and Schreiner's The Race Set Before Us, but it is rather long and unfortunately I'm not so sure that everyone will endure to the end of it!

But now, Tom Schreiner has produced Run To Win The Prize, a shorter, more popular treatment of the topic, in which he responds to concerns of those who read the earlier book and seeks to provide a fresh and different angle to the questions explored.

I've already ordered my copy and look forward to being able to share this shorter book more enthusiastically with others.

Assurance

James Anderson's answer for those who are troubled by whether they are among God's children:

All those, and only those, who come to saving faith have been redeemed by Christ. So the question of whether I have been redeemed by Christ reduces (like the question of whether I am elect) to the question of whether I have saving faith.
If I recognize that I am a sinner in need of a Savior, and that Christ is the only Savior of sinners, and I am looking to him alone for salvation, then I have every reason to believe that Christ died for me.

Making sense of the warnings and promises

Making sense of all the data on salvation and assurance is a challenge. Most systems do not factor in all the data.

Some folk focus on the warnings and point out that the New Testament teaches we must persevere to be saved [and therefore, we may lose our salvation].

Others focus on the many promises that God will keep us safe [and therefore we cannot lose our salvation].

But a few folk put these warnings and promises together and come up with this:
1. Salvation is assured to those who trust in Christ alone. Consider Romans 8:28-39 among many passages in the New Testament.
2. But we are warned that only those who persevere to the end will be saved. Hebrews chapters 6 and 10 for example.
3. However God in his mercy ensures that we will persevere through giving us these threats and promises to keep us on the path. But this perseverance itself is God's doing. I think Philippians 2:12-13 and many other passages teach this.

Many Calvinist and Puritan authors have taught the above.