Ever have doubts about your salvation? Are you really saved? I think we’ve all gone through that at one time or another. But God gives us assurances. The Bible, particularly, tells us how we can know, without a doubt, that we are His children.
I started out to make this a post about how we know that we are saved. But as I studied this, I realized there are a few things that this will entail. So, we will look at five aspects of this subject. And we must begin with why we need salvation and how to obtain it. Then we will see what salvation will mean to us and how that will affect and change our lives. God gives us promises that come with salvation, more than just having eternal life, which in itself is pretty awesome. Then we can look at the hope we have and the assurances God has given us as His children. We can also examine what to look out for and the difference between those who truly believe and those who are not saved. This is not a ticket for us to judge, but only to look at ourselves, and to discern from those who teach falsehood or try to lead us astray. Then we can focus on how we know we are saved. What are the characteristics of a believer and how we are different from the rest of the world.
God’s desire is to have a relationship with us. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to pay for our sins by dying on the cross. He provided a way to salvation, and He has given that hope to us and provided His Holy Spirit to live within us as a guarantee. We are saved by grace. We are justified by faith. Nothing we can do can earn or lose our salvation. Good thing because none of us are good enough to.
Romans 5:1-8
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God is not only merciful, but He is just. He cannot be in the presence of sin. And there must be a payment for sin. Therefore, Jesus gave His life for us. He paid the penalty of our sin and declared us righteous (justified).
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
All of us have sinned. Without Christ we are doomed to hell. But the good news is that He paid for our sins, and if we accept that gift that He offers, we will have eternal life with Him. The first step is realizing that we cannot do it alone. We cannot earn our way to salvation. We are all sinners and none of us are good enough. But Jesus provided a way to salvation by declaring us righteous before the Father, through His sacrifice, the blood that was shed on the cross.
Romans 3:23-26
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Propitiation is a fancy way of saying that He took our sins upon Himself and became the payment for our sins. Nothing we do can earn salvation. We are saved by grace. It is the gift that Christ gave us. We just have to accept that gift by believing in Him and having faith that He will save us. How will we know? We will discuss that in the posts to come.
Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
That is how much God loves us. He gave us this great gift of salvation. He wants our love. So he gave us a choice. We can choose to have faith in Him or in the temporary things this world has to offer. We can choose to believe and trust Jesus Christ or ourselves. I know in my life when I trusted in myself, it hasn’t worked out very well. He has done tit all for us.
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Our salvation is based on God’s love. It is based on who Jesus is and what He has done. When we believe with our heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that He gave His life for us and rose from the dead and lives forever at the right hand of God the Father, we become His children. Our identity is in Christ. We are saved!
Romans 10:10-13
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.”
So if you have not done so, call on Him. Admit you are a sinner and that you want Him in your life. Pray to Him and tell Him that you believe with all of your heart that Jesus is the Christ. That He paid for all of your sins. He is our Lord and our Savior. Ask for forgiveness and He will give it. Joyfully.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And He always keeps His promises. So what happens next? Join me in my next post and let’s study God’s word together to find out.
My Daily Scriptures 