How Can I be Assured of My Salvation?
He leads me …
There will come a time for a lot of Christians when for one reason or another they start to question whether they are really saved or not. It may be that the Christian journey feels dead, or seems just to be a set of rules to be followed. Keeping to these rules is just hard work, and we may feel that we do not measure up anyway.
It could be possible that a personal quiet time does not happen anymore because we went to sleep reading our Bible, and praying did not seem to do anything.
Perhaps going to church may be okay, but it is more of a social time because the service itself does not mean much.
Maybe we look at our lives and see that in terms of what Jesus talked about, we do not see any hope for ourselves.
Let us look at what being a Christian actually looks like.
· A lot of sincere Christians can describe clearly what their lives were like both before and after they became a Christian. However, this can be less likely for people who have grown up in a Christian environment.
· Sincere Christians can talk about what their personal relationship with God is like.
· Sincere Christians feel guilty, and bad about themselves when they have done something wrong.
· Sincere Christians are looking to continually remove any sin from their lives, while also developing spiritually.
· Sincere Christians are confident that they are saved from Hell, and that all their sins have been forgiven.
· Sincere Christians are aware of God’s presence in their lives, and are able to recognise His direction for their lives.
· Sincere Christians have a love for the church – both the establishment and the people.
So How Can I Find Perfect Assurance?
Can we genuinely thank the Lord for His wonderful promise in James 4:8 (PHILLIPS) ‘Come close to God and he will come close to you.’?
Let us consider what it means that before we came to Him, God seriously longed for us to be saved, and to be in a good relationship with Him.
If we are struggling to understand what it means to be a Christian, the Bible tells us that -
1. We will find true peace when we learn to trust God’s infallible Word and not our own feelings - Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT) ‘Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”’
2. God Himself is giving us our desire to want to come to Jesus - John 6:44(a) (AMP) ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him [giving him the desire to come to Me.]’
3. God truly loves us and wants us to be saved - John 3:16 (NLT) ‘For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’
4. Jesus receives everyone who genuinely asks Him to be part of their life - John 6:37 (AMP) ‘All that My Father gives Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, never reject anyone who follows Me.]‘
5. We receive eternal life as a free gift of grace from God - Romans 6:23 (AMP) ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
6. We should repent of sin and surrender our life to Jesus - Luke 13:3 (AMP) ‘I tell you, no; but unless you repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways and live changed lives], you will all likewise perish.
7. Jesus has taken all our guilt and paid our penalty for all that we have done wrong - Isaiah 53:6 (AMP) ‘All of us like sheep have gone astray, We have turned, each one, to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] To fall on Him [instead of us].
8. God gives us an open heart and the ability to change - 2 Corinthians 5:17 (PHILLIPS). ‘For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether—the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new.
If we believe these eight points, we should be able to read the following sentences and place a check beside each statement.
¨ I believe Jesus Christ is the only Son of God and that He died for the sins of the world.
¨ I believe God loves me and gave His Son as a sacrifice on a cross to prove it.
¨ I believe that if I ask Jesus to forgive me and save me, He will.
¨ By God’s enabling grace, I now desire to turn from my sins and let Christ be the Lord of my life.
¨ I believe that on the cross Jesus took all my sins on Himself and died so that my guilt would be gone.
¨ I believe God’s Spirit has opened my spiritual understanding and is encouraging me to grow to become like Him.
¨ I am happy to trust Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour straight away.
If we ticked off all the above statements, then we are saved. Yes - completely.[1]
[1] Returning to Holiness Outline, Dr. Gregory R. Frizzell, Gregory Frizzell Ministries;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d3tcm1ebydjlm8c/Returning%20to%20Holiness%20Outline.pdf?dl=0
