How do you know for sure if youre saved?

[christian_girl87]

Because I heard a pastor say he was having doubts about whether he was saved and I thought this was weird coming from a pastor

 

[fm107]

It's very worrying to hear that coming from a pastor. He shouldn't be in that position because he isn't a strong Christian but weak. Leaders in the Church must be strong in their faith.

But onto your question...

We can rest assured we will go to heaven simply if we genuinely believe in Jesus.

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

[iambren]

Demons believe in Jesus.

 

[znr]

Demons believe in Jesus.

Good point. I know what you meant. But could you expound on that?

 

[fm107]

Demons believe in Jesus.

But God has offered salvation through his son Jesus to mankind NOT demons. That whoever believes in Jesus will be saved. Genuine belief (as opposed to just mere profession) brings with it a repentant heart (new birth) and that person is saved by their faith in God. That is that Jesus has died for us and that he has paid the penalty for our sins, that if we simply believe in him, we can have eternal life because he took our punishment for us on the cross.

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.

...............................................................................

I might as well post what I know your about to and answer it:

James 2:17
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.


In other words we can see a person has saving faith through how they live. A person who has saving faith does good not bad. In other words:

Matthew 7:18
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.


We can tell a person is just a professor of Jesus if they produce bad fruit (there deeds are evil). Similarly, we can see a person really is saved through faith when we see a person doing good things, helping others, being kind etc.

Doing good things is not a condition of salvation, only faith saves. But a persons faith can be seen by others to be genuine when we see that person doing good things.

.........................................................................

James 2:15-17
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

You see this person who didn't help his brother or sister in need did not produce good deeds. Their faith is dead, it isn't genuine. We know it would be genuine if the person did good and helped his brother / sister. Good works simply proves a person's faith and that they are saved.

James 2:26
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

We can have dead faith or saving faith. Saving faith can be seen through good works, good works are a proof of saving faith whilst dead faith is proved by bad deeds.

I suppose you could say that demons have dead faith.

 

[Johnnz]

The kind of "if you reach standards x y & z only then God will be for you" teachings that are around undermine any assurance a person might have. It's a rather cruel salvation Jesus offers if we have to live on that sort of tightrope.

Also, many Christians don't seem to be given solid reasons for their faith, ones that give adequate tools and strength to withstand the variety of challenges our society throws at our faith.

John
NZ

 

[LWB]

Matthew 7:16: By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

I don't know about this concept of being saved that people are continually in a tiz about, but I do know about the Kingdom of Heaven. Firstly, if you belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, then you are attracted to the good news taught by Jesus. Love is the fruit produced by those who enter into the Kingdom.

If you love God and others, even though you may be a weak human with many failings, I think this is as good a sign as any that something wonderful is being worked out through your life.

 

[aiki]

How do you know for sure if youre saved? Because I heard a pastor say he was having doubts about whether he was saved and I thought this was weird coming from a pastor

Romans 8:16
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

We have the inner witness of God's Spirit assuring us of our salvation.

1 John 5:10-13
10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

We have the testimony of the Word of God asssuring us that when we believe in Christ as our Saviour and Lord we are saved.

There really is no other more certain basis upon which one can and should base their belief that they are saved than the promise of God Himself given to us in His Word and the assurance given to us by God's Spirit within us.

There are some things to look for in one who claims to be saved:

1. A sensitivity to sin. When the Almighty Creator sends His Holy Spirit to reside within a person at conversion, the Spirit's holy nature begins to convict that person of their unholiness.

John 16:7-8
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Things that were once comfortable sins become very uncomfortable for the new believer. As God's Spirit continues to shine His holy light upon the dark corners of a person's life, they should be increasingly repulsed by their own fleshly, sinful urges and the corrupt, carnal preoccupations of the world, and increasingly drawn and conformed to the purity and holiness of their Maker.

2. A hunger for the Word of God. God's Word is our "daily bread," our "milk" and the "meat" by which we grow strong in the Lord. Just as a newborn craves its mother's milk so a new-born child of God should crave the spiritual food God has provided them in His Word, the Bible. (1 Pe. 2:2; Matt. 4:4)

3. A love for the brethren. When one is saved, one is placed into the Body of Christ, the Church. That community of saints, every believer in Christ, will, as a result of being made a part of the Body, desire to be in fellowship with other children of God, to be connected to and functioning within the Body. (1 Thess. 4:9, 10; 1Pe. 1:22; 1Jn. 3:14)

4. A desire to tell others about Christ. No one could shut the apostles up when it came to the gospel. The natural by-product, or fruit, of their conversion was a desire to share the good news of salvation with any who would listen. Leading others to Christ is a part of what is meant by "bearing fruit" spiritually. Any one who professes to be a Christian but refuses to share the Good News of Salvation with others is, IMO, highly suspect in regards to their salvation.

Selah.

 

[InSpiritInTruth]

Aiki is correct, Jesus said except a man is born again he shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven. This being born again, is being made a new creature by way of Gods Holy Spirit. This is when the Lord will give you a new heart and mind, in the image of Himself. When this union takes place you will know it by the comfort and peace that shall come upon you.

If you have not recieved the Holy Spirit, just ask the Lord by faith. Those who truly seek him by faith shall find Him.

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

If you have a firm foundation in the Word of God you will not fall into doubt like this, the reason there is so much doubt in Christianity now days is because of the attack, slander and compromise of the Word of God and what salvation truly means in Christ.

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)

If you rest in the infallible truth of scripture and in the character of God that His word reveals, you will not be deceived.

 

[iambren]

"Romans 8:16
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, "



I believe this is about as close as we can get. It still is pretty subjective, don't you think? I mean, there are plenty of people who have "felt the witness" at some point yet have lapsed and are back in the world.

My best answer is that there is no 100% assurance. There is that slight bit of insecurity that maybe keeps us near Him. People have their various theological systems but are ultimately lacking to me.....eg

Freewill--How do you KNOW you've done enough to serve Him that you are safe? OR you can always change your mind later, ending up in hell.

Predestined--How do you KNOW you are one of the chosen, or will be empowered to persevere unto salvation.

My best answer is we are saved because God chose us but who can know the mind/purposes of a Sovereign God. So if we sense the Spirit living/guiding us, that we are led to good works rather than the works of the flesh I'd say we have an assurance we are one of His. But 100%? No.

 

[Terene]

I myself have such doubts at times, and I can see that there are two sides to this doubt.

One the bad side, it could be the devil falsely accusing us of having lost our salvation when we are in fact walking in faith and are saved.

Other the good side, it could be God's prompting that we are starting to stray from Him and we ought to re-examine ourselves in the faith and test ourselves. This is a scriptural admonishment that we should constantly examine our faith to ensure we pass the test. (2 Cor 13:5)

With such a scriptural admonishment it also tells us that we can in fact fail the test and lose our salvation if we don't hold steadfast to the faith and abide in God's Word. So any doctrine that says we will never lose salvation is also in essence saying that our faith cannot be altered or compromised. This is a dangerous teaching and is false in its essence. We can depart from/abandon the faith and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons as rightly expounded by the Word (1 Timothy 1:4) and once we don't have this faith, it also necessarily means we lose our salvation.

Mat our God open our eyes to the truth and the dangers we face in this world.

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

YouTube - ‪Trust in Jesus‬‏

 

[aiki]

I believe this is about as close as we can get. It still is pretty subjective, don't you think? I mean, there are plenty of people who have "felt the witness" at some point yet have lapsed and are back in the world.

I am reluctant to call it a "feeling." Rather, I prefer to call it a persistent certainty, or an unshakeable assurance. For me, it is on par with the certainty I have about brute facts like "I exist" and "the world exists." Even in the face of clever philosophical convolutions that would argue against such certainty, I know - I am certain - I exist. In the same way, I know as certainly as I know that I exist that I am God's child.

I think there are some who have an emotional experience and believe this is a sign of their genuine conversion, but Scripture never offers this as a basis for assurance of salvation. In fact, Christ suggests that an emotional response to the Gospel leads quickly to spiritual defection when things get hard. (Matt. 13:20, 21) As I explain above, "feeling the witness" is not an emotional event filled with exuberant joy and warm fuzzies, but a core certainty, an unshakeable knowing, about one's adoption into God's family. This certainty may give rise to strong emotion, but it is not itself just a strong emotion.

My best answer is that there is no 100% assurance. There is that slight bit of insecurity that maybe keeps us near Him.

Oy, ugh. What a horrible motive for "keeping us near Him"! Do you really think God intends to keep us insecure and fearful about our salvation in order to scare us into walking rightly with Him? God calls for our love, not our fear. In fact, His Word tells us,

1 John 4:18-19
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Freewill--How do you KNOW you've done enough to serve Him that you are safe? OR you can always change your mind later, ending up in hell.

We aren't saved on the basis of our service to God and we don't remain saved on that basis. God "accepts us in the beloved"; that is, He accepts us as His children because we have "put on Christ" and are thereby clothed in his perfect righteousness. When God sees one who is saved He sees them in Christ and that is the only basis upon which one gains God's acceptance. There is nothing in Scripture that indicates that this basis for our acceptance by God changes once we are saved.

Predestined--How do you KNOW you are one of the chosen, or will be empowered to persevere unto salvation.

How do you know you are not one of the chosen? By your behaviour? If so, then why can't this be the basis for knowing that you are one of the chosen? It seems to me that this is the way Scripture separates out a believer from a non-believer.

How do you know you will be one of the chosen? You don't. By the same token, you don't know that you won't be one of the chosen, either. In light of this, it seems pointless to me to fuss about it.

One knows that one will be saved "to the end" because it is God who is doing the saving, not us.

"Faithful is He who has called you, who also will do it." 1 Thess. 5:24

Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ

Hebrews 12:2
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...

My best answer is we are saved because God chose us but who can know the mind/purposes of a Sovereign God.

Something of His mind is revealed to us in the Bible. We can't know all of God's mind, but He has shown us some of what He is thinking - certainly enough to be confident in our salvation.

So if we sense the Spirit living/guiding us, that we are led to good works rather than the works of the flesh I'd say we have an assurance we are one of His. But 100%? No.

This is a very...sad way of thinking.

Selah.

 

[Hentenza]

It doesn't get any clearer that this.

1 John 5
10 The one who believes in the Son of God (Q)has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has (R)made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. 11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us (S)eternal life, and (T)this life is in His Son. 12 (U)He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 (V)These things I have written to you who (W)believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have (X)eternal life.

 

[LWB]

Come on Aiki, we can't be 100% sure of anything. We might wake up at any instant to find the World was like the Matrix, and our life was a completely virtual experience.

But through assuming this is an authentic experience, we can engage with life in a meaningful way. Likewise, faith allows us to engage in a meaningful way with that which is hoped for, and unseen.

 

[aiki]

Come on Aiki, we can't be 100% sure of anything. We might wake up at any instant to find the World was like the Matrix, and our life was a completely virtual experience.

I'm going to assume you're speaking tongue-in-cheek here. Even if one "wakes up" to a different reality than one expected, one's existence remains a constant, a 100% certainty, whatever the nature of one's reality. Like I said, some things we just know as brute facts, a priori, without any need for justifying argument. This is the level on which I know I am saved.

But through assuming this is an authentic experience, we can engage with life in a meaningful way. Likewise, faith allows us to engage in a meaningful way with that which is hoped for, and unseen.

I'm not entirely sure what this has to do with being certain of one's salvation. Is the apostle John too sure of himself when he writes:

1 John 5:13
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

does the apostle Paul over-state the case when he writes:

Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Selah.

 

[Angelfrog]

I'm shocked and rather saddened at how many seem uncertain of salvation.

Does this mean that I'm supremely arrogant because I have no doubt about my salvation at all- and am 100% secure and confident in it?

That isn't through any genius working out of my own. It isn't through any lifelong mystical journey- but something so utterly simple and basic that I'm constantly amazed at how Christians try to complicate it!

That simple thing is- I believe what the Bible says.

I believe that 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God' (Romans 3.23)

I believe that 'the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.' (Romans 6.23)

I believe that 'Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God' (John 3.3)

I believe that 'God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us' (Romans 5.8) and that 'Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God'.' (1 Peter 3.18)

I believe that ' He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life ' (1 John 5.12)

I believe that 'Consequently faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ' (Romans 10.17)

I believe that 'if you confess with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved' (Romans 10.9) and that 'if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness' (1 John 1.9)

I believe that he 'has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance than never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you'- (1 Peter 1. 3,4)

I believe Jesus when he said ' "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." ' (John 5.24) and ' "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish: no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who had given them to me is greater than all' " (John 10. 28, 29)

I believe in John's statement ' I write these things to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life' (1 John 5.13)

I do NOT believe that God ever said, 'I forgive you, you have eternal life... oh! Nope- you've done something wrong, you've lost it.... oh- right, you've repented again- ok, you can have it back...oh no! Bad thoughts- it's gone again!'

Nor do I believe he ever said 'I feel such indifference to you that It gives me a real kick to watch you worry about whether you've made the cut or not, because I love to add a bit of suffering and mess with your mind.'

Nor do I believe John meant 'I write these things to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may be uncertain and unconvinced and dither about whether or not you have eternal life'

For me, that's the whole thing- start to finish. I don't believe that God ever made it as complicated as we try to make it.

 

[RobertZ]

Demons believe in Jesus.

The Devil and his Fallen Angels were not provided a savior and thus while they may know Jesus is real they cannot believe on him as their Lord and Savior.

 

[dfreeland311]

It's hard to know when you believe something in your heart and not just your head.

For me, the knowledge that I'm truly saved comes from the deep feeling of peace I have when I spend time alone with God. Even if I'm in my car, I can look into the sky, zone out a little bit, and think of the day when I'm reunited with Him, and it puts a smile on my face.

It's hard to describe how you know you're saved from a mental standpoint...but all the reassurance that I need comes from the stillness in my heart when I think about what Jesus did for me, for all of us.