( 10 ) : ” CAN YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE SAVED ? “
August 24, 2017
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You hear people all the time, with great spiritual pride , say that they KNOW that they are saved with no doubts whatsoever , and that if you have any doubts , there is something wrong with your faith ! Well is it possible to know that you are saved without any doubts whatsoever ! The bible says that we are saved by grace through faith : EPHESIANS 2 ( 8 ) : ” For by grace are ye saved THROUGH FAITH ! ” Well just what exactly is faith ? : The bible’s definition : HEBREWS 11 ( 1 ) : ” Now faith is the substance of THINGS HOPED FOR , the evidence of THINGS NOT SEEN . ” So FAITH IS HOPING for something that we as yet CANNOT SEE , but we are believing that it will be , without any actual visual physical evidence of it, but only the evidence of THINGS NOT SEEN , which of course is not real evidence : So we ultimately have ONLY HOPE ! : ROMANS 8 ( 24&25 ) : 24 : ” FOR WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE , BUT HOPE THAT IS SEEN IS NOT HOPE , FOR WHAT A MAN SEETH WHY DOTH HE YET HOPE FOR IT ? ” 25 : ” BUT IF WE HOPE FOR THAT WE SEE NOT , THEN DO WE WITH PATIENCE ” WAIT FOR IT ” : OBVIOUSY HOPING IS NOT KNOWING ! For example : Did the great Saints of God all through history know that they were saved , or did they also have to operate by faith , hoping and believing that they would be saved at some future time , without any real present visible proof : HEBREWS 11 ( 13 , 27 , & 39 ) : 13 : ” These all died in faith , NOT HAVING RECEIVED THE PROMISES , but having seen them afar off , and were persuaded of them . ” 27 : ” BY FAITH he forsook Egypt , not fearing the wrath of the king , for he endured as SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE . ” 39 : ” And these all , having obtained a good report through faith RECEIVED NOT THE PROMISE . ” None of these great men of God received the promises , right unto their deaths , but OPERATED SOLELY ON HOPE AND BELIEF of things they believed would come : THEY DID NOT KNOW : THEY BELIEVED ! If we had absolute present visual proof of our salvation , it would be no big accomplishment to stick with the Lord, anybody could do that : But the fact that we only have hope makes it far more difficult to hang in there with the Lord to the end , like brother Paul says 1 TIMOTHY 6 ( 12 ) : ” Fight the good FIGHT OF FAITH . ” and 2 TIMOTHY 4 ( 7 ) : ” I have fought a good fight , I have finished my course , I have KEPT THE FAITH ! ” HE DIDN’T KNOW FOR SURE WITHOUT DOUBT , as he says : HE HAD TO FIGHT ALL THE WAY TO KEEP HIS FAITH , his belief , fight against the doubts , and he kept his faith with only hope : THE SAME HOPE THAT WE ALL HAVE TO SUSTAIN OUR FAITH : HEBREWS 6 ( 18&19 ) : 18 : ” To lay hold upon THE HOPE set before us , ” 19 : ” WHICH HOPE WE HAVE AS AN ANCHOR OF THE SOUL . ” Is there anything that we can do to increase and strengthen our faith ? : ROMANS 10 ( 17 ) : ” Faith cometh by hearing , and hearing by the word of God ” If we study the word of God and read where all God’s true people also had to operate by hope and faith alone : This strengthens our faith also ! Of course there are many who teach the false teaching that we are saved here and now , but the Bible says : 1 PETER 1 ( 13 ) : ” Hope to the end for the grace that IS TO BE BROUGHT UNTO YOU AT THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST ” : NOT NOW ! and 1 PETER 1 ( 9 ) : ” Receiving THE END OF YOUR FAITH even the salvation of your souls . ” : NOT NOW BUT AT THE END OF YOUR FAITH ! Further scriptural evidence that our salvation is not by knowing but only by hope : TITUS 1 ( 2 ) : ” In HOPE of eternal life . ” and TITUS 2 ( 13 ) : ” The HOPE of eternal life . ” and 1 THESSALONIANS 5 ( 8 ) : ‘ For an helmet the HOPE of salvation . ” There is only one verse that seems to say that we can know that we have eternal life and this is of course 1 JOHN 5 ( 13 ) : ” That you may know that you have eternal life . ” Yet this same brother two chapters earlier in 1 JOHN 3 ( 2 ) says that we can know that we shall be like God , but in the very next verse , talking about the same thing says : that WE ONLY HAVE A HOPE OF THIS : 1 JOHN 3 ( 2&3 ) : 2 : ” We know that when he shall appear , we shall be like him . ” 3 : ” And every man that hath this HOPE in him purifieth himself . ” So we can see that when John says we can know something he actually means THAT WE HAVE THIS HOPE ! So applying this understanding to 1 JOHN 5 ( 13 ) , when he says that we may know that we have eternal life , this would mean that we actually only have a hope of this as he said in 1 JOHN 3 ( 3 ) . The fact that the rest of the scriptures all say that we have only hope clarifies what exactly 1 JOHN 5 ( 13 ) really means , and it is a widely misunderstood verse which those that are unlearned and unstable wrest, 2 PETER 3 ( 16 ) . So the answer to the opening question of this study would be : NO WE CANNOT KNOW THAT WE ARE SAVED HERE AND NOW , BUT WE HAVE TO OPERATE AS ALL GOD’S PEOPLE THROUGH HISTORY HAVE OPERATED , BY FAITH , WHICH IS ONLY HOPE OF SOME FUTURE THING , WHICH AT PRESENT WE CANNOT VISUALLY SEE , SO WE HAVE TO FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH , BELIEF TO THE END OF OUR TIME HERE, AFTER WHICH IF WE KEEP THE FAITH , THEN WE WILL RECEIVE THE PROMISE : THIS IS ALL BY FAITH : NOT KNOWING : BUT FAITH !