My Personal Christian Blog

Thanks for sliding into my blog site. This blog bog is a spin-off from my website at http://www.niteowldave.com/. Call me a Night Owl, as my full-time mission and hobby are jabbering from midnight until 8 a.m.ish with chatter bugs across the world. Hoot, hoot! Being a retired newspaper guy and a Curious George, I've written and assembled a whack of stuff that I hope you'll find interesting and thought-provoking. Check out the Stories bar on the right side, below, for all my articles - from my web site and this blog.




April 6, 2010

How do I know I am saved?

QUESTION:

Seeing that you believe that we cannot lose salvation and believe that you are saved eternally right now, how can you really know?


ANSWER:

One can know they are eternally saved since the Bible supports this. I am amazed how little we believe what the Bible tells us.


This truth is spelled out clearly and simply in the best known verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16.”

What does this verse really say? Let’s analyze it.

1. That God loved the world…God loves all sinners with a compassionate love.

2. That He gave His only begotten Son…The rest of the message in the Bible is, that God gave Jesus to die for our sins. I believed this for years, but was not saved.

3. That whosoever believeth in Him…Here is the part that we must play. We can believe the first two without believing all the verse.


Here is where my faith comes in. I really trusted Him as my Savior from sin many years ago. This believing did not make me personally sure that I was eternally saved.

4. Shall not perish (die and go to hell)…Ah, here is the secret. This made me sure. Many people believe the first three parts but not this one.


Faith is not just believing there is a God, or believing the Bible is the word of God, but it is believing what God says.


When I trusted Christ as my Savior, God says to me in this verse, that I would NOT perish. The word ‘not’ means ‘never.’ I believe what God says, This is real faith. Based on Titus 1:2, I believe He does not lie.

My assurance is not in me or even in my faith, but it is in what God said. How did the firstborn in Egypt know that he would not died at midnight?


The blood had been applied and God had said when I see the blood I will pass by that door. His safety was in the blood applied, and his assurance was in what God said. For me to say I was not eternally saved would be saying I do not believe God.


That is calling Him a liar. 1 John 5:10 says, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”