Jun 14, 2016
After we believed in the Lord Jesus and received Him as our Savior, many of us have wondered to ourselves, “Am I really saved?” Sometimes we feel we’re definitely saved; other times, we’re plagued with doubts. If this continues to be our case, how can we walk forward in the Christian life?
Today we’ll discuss three ways we can be sure we’re really saved.
The first way is the Bible says so.
Here’s what 1 John 5:13 says, “I have written these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who believe into the name of the Son of God.”
This verse indicates that God wants us to know—not wish, hope, or feel—that we’re saved. How can we know? By the written words of the Bible we can know we’re really saved.
For example, Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” If we’ve called upon the Lord by praying a prayer such as, “Lord Jesus, I believe You died for my sins and that You rose from the dead,” then according to God’s unchanging word in the Bible, we are definitely saved.
By relying on the facts in God’s Word and not on our feelings, we can be assured that we’re really saved.
The second way is the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit.
Despite our believing what the Bible says, the question may bother us again: “Am I really saved?” The Bible in our hands outside of us tells us we are. But the second way we know is by something inside us telling us we’re saved—the Spirit.
Romans 8:16 tells us that “the Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” Although we might have doubts, the Holy Spirit witnesses deep within us that we are truly saved. Even if we were to say, “I don’t think I’m a child of God,” the Spirit within us confirms that we are.
Perhaps one reason we question our salvation is because we don’t experience a strong witnessing of the Holy Spirit within our spirit. A verse that can help us with this is 1 Corinthians 12:3: “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.”
Whenever we doubt our salvation, we can say aloud, “Jesus is Lord!” As we do, we’ll have the assurance from within by the Spirit that we undoubtedly are children of God.
The third way of knowing with certainty that we’re saved is by the genuine love we have for our fellow Christians. We have a sweet feeling within towards other believers, even ones very different from ourselves.
This feeling is something we didn’t have before we were saved. The apostle John in 1 John 3:14 said, “We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.” The love in us for our brothers in the Lord is a way we can know we are genuinely saved.
Our knowing without a doubt that we are saved and that we are God’s children is the necessary foundation for us to have a joyful Christian life. When we’re assured of our salvation, as these three ways help us to be, we can build on this foundation and continue on to grow up in God’s salvation!