How To Know “for Sure” That Your Saved

Many people hesitate to even bring up this question, because they don’t want to take the chance of “causing people to doubt their salvation”:

But what they fail to understand is, this is how the Lord will let you know, that you need to get saved.
(If you have doubts, you aught to take them seriously.)

Some might say, “Satan is the one, that causes people to doubt their salvation”;
(But that just isn’t the case

Satan wants us to be satisfied, with where we are. That way we will do nothing.

He knows that if we start really thinking about it, and wanting to make absolutely sure, that we are saved, than that will lead us to start searching the Bible and going to the Lord in prayer;
(And Satan certainly doesn’t want that!)
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So the question remains, “How can we know for sure that we are saved”?

First of all, the only true answer must come from the Bible;

In Acts, the Bible says......
Acts 16:30-31
V.30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
V.31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

This is great: But how do we know, that we have really believed?
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I was once sincerely asked by someone, “How can I know, that I am saved?”

The answer that the Lord gave me, at that moment was.....
“If you have followed the Bible’s instructions, about getting saved, than you are saved!”
(By the authority of God’s Word!)
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So what are the Bible’s instructions, in this area?
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The first time the word “saved” is found in the New Testament, is.......
Matthew 10:22
“And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

This is interesting, but it lacks all the details that we need.
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And then here in Titus, we have another important detail about “salvation”.......

Titus 3:5
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

i.e. True salvation, is a result of God’s mercy.
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But here I believe, is the answer to our question; Because it gives us details....
Romans 10:9-11
V.9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
V.10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
V.11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

This answers our question:
(1) The belief that is required, is the specific belief that “God raised Jesus from the dead”:
(2) And this belief must be “in your heart”: A heart felt belief!
(3) And if you have truly believed, than this faith will be followed by a confession:
(You will not be ashamed of the Lord, but you will be proud of what has happed to you,
and you will be anxious to tell others about it.)
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Over the years, the Lord has laid it on my heart, to ask people, two questions:
(1) Are you saved? (And if they say yes, I ask them
(2) How did you get saved?
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You would be surprised and maybe even shocked, at some of the answers, that I have received, to this second question.

I remember one man telling me, that he knew that he was saved, because he had see a vision of three crosses in the sky.

Countless other people, have told me, that they felt that they were saved, because they had attended some special Christian meeting or a Gospel concert etc.
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It is so terribly important, that we get this one thing right, because if this isn’t right, than nothing else we do will matter.

In conclusion, let me share one brief moment, of my testimony with you.
It was during my lunch hour at work, back in 1981, and I was sitting in my pickup listing to a preacher on the radio, preaching the Gospel.
When he was finished, he invited anyone who had heard the message, and knew that they were unsaved, to bow their heads and ask Jesus to save them.
At that moment, I bowed my head and asked Jesus to save me. And my life hasn’t been the same since.


The main point of this testimony, is the fact that as I raised my head from this prayer, I didn’t feel a great weight lift from my shoulders, nor did I see lighting flash;
In fact, I didn’t feel any different at all.

But three interesting things, did happen, immediately:
(1) I felt the need to tell someone about what had happened to me; and I did.
(2) I found an old Gideon New Testament in the glove compartment of my pickup, and started reading the Bible.
(3) And I started feeling bad, every time I used a curse word. (This was just the start)
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Now even though I don’t know the exact date, that this happened, I will never forget the moment, that I got saved.

I believe that salvation, is such a life changing experience, that anyone that has been saved, aught to be able to remember that moment.




Thanks for listening

 

Hi Martin

I really appreciate your response.

I said........

Then you said....

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-You were right:-
After looking & looking, I am not able to give you “Scriptural support”, for this statement.
(Therefore, I am retracting this statement from my post.)

This goes to show, that just because something “looks right” & “sounds right”, doesn’t necessarily mean, that it “is right”.

If the Bible doesn’t say it, than I shouldn’t say it.



Once again Martin, thank you.

 

Hi jdlongmire


Your section, from the London Baptist Confession of faith, really hits home on this subject.


Thank you

 

Hi Jeff

You make a very interesting point.

Part of what you said was........

Sure enough, sometimes young Christians have doubts about their salvation(I remember that I did).
But I am not convinced that these doubts are from Satan.

The reason I say this, is because of what these doubts do in a person, regardless of weather they are lost or saved.
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If anybody has doubts about their salvation, this shows that they are thinking about eternity, and that is never bad.

If someone is saved, and they read something that causes them to have a twinge of doubt about their salvation(although this is not pleasant), it can cause then, no harm at all.

Because it will prod them on, to take a serious look at their relationship with Christ, and they will come away from it, with more confidence and vigor.

Now if they happen to be unsaved, it might cause them think twice, about their labors for the Lord(which is also good), because the more religious things an unsaved person does, the more they are convinced that they are saved.

But doubting their salvation, may very well may bring them to Christ.
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It’s kind of like preaching God’s Word; Sometimes it will hit you between the eyes, and point out some inconsistency in your life.

This certainly isn’t peasant, but it is the best thing in the world for you.


Hope to hear from you again.

 

Hi nunatak


You mentioned what was said in James.......

Your right; James was talking about Justification before men:
(While Paul was talking about Justification before God:

Justification before God, requires no works at all, because God knows our heart:
(While Justification before men, requires works, because others can’t know our heart, and can only make a determination about us, based upon our works.)
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Also you said.....

I didn’t say this, God did: In Romans!