Assurance of Salvation

Assurance of Salvation Many people assume they are saved, but lack a deep, confident assurance. They cannot articulate a specific experience or transformation that confirms their salvation. They rely on assumptions rather than a solid foundation of faith. The Pharisees believed they had eternal life because of their knowledge of scripture, but they did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God. They failed to see Christ in the Old Testament, which is full of references and pictures of Him. They knew the scriptures but did not believe in Jesus. It’s not enough to just think you are saved; you must know you are saved. Relying on feelings is unreliable because feelings can fluctuate. Assurance comes from God’s Word and His Spirit working together. Avoid trying to figure out salvation through your own thinking. Salvation is not achieved by accident; it requires being born again. God offers grace to everyone, teaching us to deny ungodliness and live righteously. Some Christians struggle with assurance, but there comes a day when the Holy Spirit and the Word of God confirm their salvation. The goal is to move from thinking you are saved to knowing you are saved. Personal experience: There was a period of wrestling with salvation, but eventually came to a place of knowing through the Word and the Spirit. How to Know You Are Saved These points also reveal if you are not saved. The converse statements are present in the scriptures. Don’t let your mind dictate truth; rely on simple faith and belief from the heart. 1. Walking in the Light (1 John 1:7) If you are saved, you have come out of the darkness of the world and into the light of Christ. When a light is turned on in a dark room, you know it. There is an assurance that the darkness has been dispelled from your life. This is not about intellectual comprehension but about a transformational experience. It’s not about reasoning or understanding the English language. It’s about no longer living in darkness. Personal Testimony: Once lived in darkness, but no longer there. Something happened at salvation that changed everything. It’s not of this world; it’s of God. 2. Keeping His Commandments (1 John 2:3-4) You know that you know Him if you keep His commandments. If you claim to know Him but do not keep His commandments, you are a liar. We often lie to ourselves, convincing ourselves that our sin doesn’t matter. Jesus summarized the commandments as: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. If you are born again, you will have a desire to keep God’s commandments. If you are not saved, you have no desire to please God. Even though we fail, there is an internal desire to do what God says. When lost, there was no desire to please God, but after salvation, there is a desire to obey Him. Rules from parents were for good, teaching right and wrong. Being born again submits you to the desire to do right. Those who deceive themselves about salvation are still trying to figure it out within themselves. If you are not born again, you won’t stick with it. Flesh is contrary to serving God, but something greater within makes you want to obey God. 3. Keeping His Word (1 John 2:5) If you keep His word, the love of God is perfected in you. You will want to do what He said to do. You will want to keep all of His word, not just the “do’s and don’ts.” Psalm 119: Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto, to every word that cometh from him. Every word is beneficial. His Word is hidden in the heart so that you might not sin against God. Thinking about being saved is how you confuse yourself if you have not really been saved. People die every day thinking they are alright with God but have never been born again. 4. Loving Not the World (1 John 2:15-16) If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. James 4:4: If you are a friend of the world, you are an enemy to God. The things of the world include the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. When you are saved, you no longer love the world; you love God. Nothing in the world truly satisfies your soul. Allegiance shifts from following the devil to following God. Salvation is an event, not a process. It happens right here, right now. Your name is written down, and you become a child of God. You cannot love the world and love the Father. You cannot have two masters. If you still love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. The reason for preaching is because you are not yet condemned. God has made a way through the death, resurrection, and shed blood of His Son. A transformation occurs within your life that changes you. 2 Corinthians 5:17: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. If you are born again, your love comes, and the love of the world dissipates. 5. Having the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20) You have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit of God is given to you. The Holy Ghost of God lives inside of you. The first four points are to the heart, but the mind can still get involved. You can think yourself into a righteous position, but God said you never could do that. Your righteousness is filthy rags in His eyes. Being indwelt by the Holy Ghost separates things. You cannot fight that. The Spirit of God bears witness within you. If you have the Holy Spirit, you know it. It’s like having a $100 bill in your pocket; you know you have it. If you get saved, you will know. The Holy Spirit of Christ dwells in you. You are born of the Spirit. The power to beget you was the Spirit. The Holy Spirit purges, cleanses, and seals you. That’s why you cannot be untamed or lost tomorrow. The Holy Spirit did the work; you could not do it yourself. 6. Not Practicing Sin (1 John 3:9) Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remaineth in him. This does not mean you never sin, but that you do not practice sin. You do not live in sin. Those born of God do not live in sin. They may sin and find forgiveness through repentance. But they do not practice it. If you are still practicing your old sins, you are probably not born again. He takes away the desire to do the things of this world and gives you a new desire. What you once loved, you now hate; what you once hated, you now love. Romans 8:9: If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. You do not wake up thinking about partying. If that has not left you, you have never been changed. There is something on the inside that is greater than the world. You can overcome the lust of the world, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. 7. Loving the Brethren (1 John 3:14, 4:7) You know that you have passed from death unto life because you love the brethren. If you hate your brother, you are in darkness even until now. The old song: “It makes me love everybody.” We know that we have passed from death unto life because we keep on loving. Even those who are unlovable. Love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. If the Holy Spirit of God is not dealing with you, you cannot be saved. It is not a thinking thing; it is an order thing. The Holy Spirit of God rests in your soul. The Holy Spirit captures you and explains that you are against God, a sinner, and going to hell. You believe Him. You know you are wrong. If the Holy Spirit of God has said to you that you are lost, in doubt, and want to stay eternally, you are going to be saved. The process starts with knowing that you are lost and asking Him to save you. In that same instant, you can know that you are saved. Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but they testify of me. If you search the scriptures and do not see Christ, you are not saved. Stay with us if you are not right with God.