How would a Christian know that he is saved?
A couple of days ago, someone searched for that that very question in a search engine and clicked on my site. It almost seems strange that a Christian would be asking this question, but in these times, where a lot of people claim to be Christian, so many in fact that I think the line has been blurred, it’s not that surprising. Of course, I didn’t have an answer for him at that time, but I hope to accomplish that with this post.
John 3:16″For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17″For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18″He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
So, there’s the answer. You must believe in God. I don’t see any rules or regulations to follow, the Bible is clear, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If you just can’t grasp the fact that it is that simple, then I encourage you to follow the two greatest commandments in addition to this, which is almost just as simple detailed in my 30-second Bible for Christians.
I’d also invite any of my readers to add their responses for anyone asking themselves this very question.
I periodically struggle with this question myself. Here are a couple resources that may help you: (1) http://www.ttwministries.com click Resources, click Biblical Teaching, click Read for Never Backslide Again. (2) The book “Essential Truths of the Christian Faith,” by R.C. Sproul. I’m sure John MacArthur (www.gty.org), James MacDonald (www.walkintheword.org), and John Piper (www.desiringgod.org) probably also have articles available online.
HOW WOULD A CHRISTIAN KNOW THAT HE OR SHE IS SAVED.
REPENT, BE BAPTISED IN THE NAME OF JESUS
KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS
Repent yes. But baptism and keeping the commandments won’t do it, because then you are putting your trust in your own actions. Instead, you must put your trust in Jesus. Still, baptism and keeping the commandments are important, because these actions are a reflection of your repentance and trust in Christ. I think this might be close to the heart of where I struggle with assurance. I see how horrible I am at keeping the commandments, and instead of confessing my failings to Him, I beat myself up over it and begin to wonder about assurance.
This is a good question, and one that I also struggled with. Until the Holy Spirit illuminated Romans 10:9 for me. It says,
9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Simply put, salvation is about confession and belief. It’s not about a feeling, which is what often confused me. I always thought that I should “feel” different. It’s about faith.
Another passage that helped me is Ephesians 2:8, which says,
8() For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
I was concerned when i reag that “it is belief in God” that saves us, happy to see in comments that ppl have brought up “The Way” which is Jesus. You may wish to have a relationship with God and God certainly pines to have a relationship with you but it is only thru beief in Jesus, repenting our sins, and asking for His grace that we become right with God.
hmmmmm…read thus spoke zarathustra