Are You Sure That You Are Saved?

Many sermons and articles have been preached and written to instruct a sinner on how he can be saved.  God’s plan of salvation is clearly revealed in the New Testament.  If an accountable person hears the Word of God, believes Jesus is the Son of God, repents of past sins, confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, and is baptized for the remission of sins, then that person has been moved from lost to saved (Rom. 10:17; John 8:24; Acts 17:30-31; Rom. 10:10; Mark 16:16).  As long as the person remains faithful to his Lord, then he remains saved (Rev. 2:10; 1 John 1:6-10).  However, there are still some who seemingly doubt their salvation.  It is the purpose of this article to put to rest any doubt that may be lingering.  We will examine Scriptures that verify that a man can be certain that he is saved.

            The first area of study was written by John.  “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).  Please notice that one of the reasons that John wrote the letter was to give assurance to the first century Christians of their salvation.  He did not write that they could “feel” as if they were saved.  Nor did he write, that they could “hope/wish” that they were saved.  He wrote that they could “know”.  It is truly sad to listen to the way that some children of God speak.  Some say, “I hope that I am saved.”  Others may say, “I don’t know if I am saved.”  Friend, if you are a faithful Christian, then you can “know” that you are saved.  Please notice that the person must be faithful.  John had already established that point earlier in the letter.  He wrote, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:6-9).  Therefore, it can be properly concluded that a faithful child of God is saved.  However, this confidence should not lead to the false doctrine of “once saved, always saved”.  There are numerous verses that teach against that error (2 Pet. 2:20-22; Heb. 3:12-4:11).

            To further validate the assurance that the Christian should have, let us notice some other writings.  The book of Romans was written “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7).  Therefore, the recipients were already Christians.  In what we now call chapter eight, the apostle Paul, by inspiration, wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1-2).  Notice that Paul did not indicate that the Christians would one day be free from condemnation.  Instead, Paul emphatically stated that at the present time of his writing, those Christians who were not walking after the flesh, were living in a state of “no condemnation”.  So long as those brethren remained faithful, they were saved, and they could know that they were saved.

            Do you believe that Jesus and the Holy Spirit taught the truth?  If so, then will you take Them at Their words?  Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).  Jesus did not say that you might be saved, or that hopefully you will be saved.  According to Jesus, if a believer is baptized, then he is saved.  Likewise, the Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, indicated, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).  The Holy Spirit chose words to indicate that there were some who had already been saved.  “He saved us” is in the past tense.

            I hope that this article can allow some Christians to feel confident and secure about their salvation. God did not make salvation an unattainable thing.  If we have obeyed the Gospel, and if we are remaining faithful, then we are saved!  What a blessing to know that we have “eternal life”!

~ Corey Barnette