Salvation doubts

[ladylins]

It says in the Bible "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."

But what does it mean to believe in your heart? Because it also says "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
It says on a website that The person may sincerely believe they have believed with their heart, when in fact they just gave mental assent. So how will I ever know if I really believed in my heart?

I've been struggling with this...I made reassurance of my salvation myself by reading a track a couple of years ago...since then I've prayed numerous times because I'm scared to go to hell. I always doubt my salvation and think I'm not really saved.
I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose again.
I read something today that was talking about people who died and came back to life and one guy said that he died and was in hell and that he was screaming I belong to Jesus and that Satan said I tempted you and you fell you are mine...and said he had committed his life to Jesus. But if he was saved wouldn't he go to Heaven no matter what?
Then I read something that said when you're saved that when you read or hear about Jesus that you look on him as this miraculous, wonderful figure...and honestly I don't feel nothing when I read about Him or hear about him and that scares me...I just don't want to go to hell and I really want to be saved...please help me.

Do y'all think I'm saved? What should I do?

I'm really scared and I feel like I need reassurance so but I don't know what to do...I know some of you said that your fruits will show but it says in the Bible you can KNOW...so why would God leave it a guessing game until we supposedly "bear fruit" that you cannot really see?

 

[RobertZ]

I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose again.

Then why are you afraid?

 

[If Not For Grace]

"

I'm really scared and I feel like I need reassurance so but I don't know what to do..."

I used to struggle along these lines & one of the things that helped me was reading about the last days of John the Baptist. ("none greater). In the last days John (who had "paved" the way for Jesus) sent word to Jesus asking "should we look for another" & he was told to look around & go with what he already knew. (do the Blind see?...)

My point is sounds like John might have experienced a little doubt huh? Jesus knew who HE was & HE knew John's heart, John just had a weak human moment (I mean he was in Jail facing the death penalty & Jesus (a cousin) was busy about HIS work & did not go visit, right?)

Jesus was not worried, HE knew where John would spend eternity, nor did HE rebuke John. So if God is no respector of "persons", Then I figured, someone who had studied as John had & knew Jesus personally, even baptised Him, did not get in "trouble" for doubting--then I certainly didn't need to eat my own lunch over a few passing (this too shall pass-faith is a process) moments of doubt.

See Jesus was either who He said He was or He was a liar & con-artist?
Now--go back to what YOU know & then you will KNOW what you beleive,
& hopefully that will Help.

Dont' worry so much, if you lack knowledge ask--God ain't afraid of your questions (plus HE's got the answers)

Grace

 

[Darkeonz]

What is it exactly that "jesus dying on the cross for our sins" did that could not have been done without it? What exactly does it mean to die for our sins? and why does him dying help?

 

[RobertZ]

What is it exactly that "jesus dying on the cross for our sins" did that could not have been done without it?

What did it accomplish? He died the horrible death for "YOU" in your place that you deserved to die. The death of Christ was absolutely neccessary and apart from it there would be no salvation.

 

[Skala]

Sister, I pray for you comfort and that you feel God's love during this hard time. I think it is common for the Christian to be struck in awe of God's horrible hatred of sin. But remember the gospel has two facets, law and grace. The law makes us tremble and fear God's wrath, but it serves to remind us of His grace in saving us from that wrath.

My advice to you is that maybe the Holy Spirit is pressing upon you to examine your faith. The bible tells us to constantly test ourselves (1 Jn) and to make our calling and election sure (2 Pet 1). Peter tells us to add to our faith fruits of the Spirit. This matches with what James says that a faith without works is dead. It also matches what Jesus said "You will know them by their fruits". The Christian life is not just a call to faith, but a call to holiness. Trust in Christ more and more than you ever have, and ask him to work in you and produce fruit.

Also, please note that the Bible never says that the measure of if we are Christian or not is whether or not we "feel" like we are. There is no room for subjective feelings in Biblical Christianity. We trust Christ alone by faith alone. We don't find comfort in how we feel from day to day (we are so fickle!) We find comfort that His finished work is sufficient to appease God's wrath on our behalf, and if we have faith in Christ it's because God himself gave us that faith as a gift from Himself. In other words God Himself pursued us from eternity past and set out to save us. He adopted us as his children - that's why anyone at all believes in the Son.

 

[faceofbear]

You might believe that Christ died on the cross for your sins, but the Demons also believe that Christ died on the cross to save His elect (if you are one of His children). The difference is do you TRUST that Christ's death was sufficient enough for your insufficiency, and that His resurrection has brought about your justification? Don't just give a, "Yes, I trust that." Actually think about it. Because if you genuinely trust that, you wouldn't doubt, at least not in whole. Doubts come from questioning whether YOU are good enough to make it to Heaven, which the answer to that is: No. You're not. Thus you don't know if you're saved because there's no way YOU are good enough. Therefore, our reliance is on Christ and wholly Christ. If you look to self, even in part, you'll have no assurance.

Don't pay attention to this, "You have to REALLY believe," bull crap. There's only one type of belief. You either BELIEVE or you don't. However, to me it appears that you're placing your salvation on believing, not on Christ. That is, you believe you're saved by believing, but you're saved by Christ. You have faith in faith right now, not faith in Christ. At least that is how it appears. So what do you do? You don't. You rest in Christ. That's it. All your insufficiencies to believe, repent, say the right words, confess properly, all must be found in the reason of Christ's death. You CAN'T believe perfectly, you CAN'T repent properly, you CAN'T say your way into Heaven, and you CANNOT confess properly, and you CAN'T be penitent genuinely. That's why your only hope is in Christ. Nothing else. So, stop trusting faith, and trust Christ. As long as you look to yourself to fix the problem, you're only focusing on the disease, and not the Physician who can cure your disease. You acknowledge the Physician can cure your disease, but you aren't resting on Him, you're resting on your acknowledgement that He is sufficient, and not on Him.

Do you see the difference?

 

[kittycat7]

Not sure if I'm supposed to be posting in here without being a Baptist ... I used to believe "once saved, always saved" and that if you were saved you would know it. I worried about whether I was saved or not. Now I believe that we can never know for sure whether we've saved or not until we die and I don't worry about it anymore, just focus on not falling away from God.

 

[RobertZ]

Now I believe that we can never know for sure whether we've saved or not until we die.

You are being deceived.

Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

1 John 5:13
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.

If you have the indwelling Holy Spirit then you are sealed by him unto the day of redemption.

 

[Skala]

Great verses robert, thanks.

 

[RobertZ]

Great verses robert, thanks.

No problem, im just a bit compassionate about assurance because God wants his children to know that they belong to him. If you dont know you are his then you cant even be an effective witness for Christ!

 

[Skala]

Wise words brother.

May I also say that at the same time it is a healthy thing for Christians to ponder their salvation. The bible tells us to test ourselves and make sure our faith is not carnal. It tells us to add to our faith the fruits of the spirit so that we may know our "calling and election" are sure. (2 Peter 1:10)

Surely these are tools, means that God uses to grow us in holiness and shape us more and more into Christ's image.