How Do I Know I'm SAVED FOREVER?

August 23, 2014

Many people have a struggle believing that simple faith in Christ will save them forever. It seems to me, after years of dealing with people about the doubts of their salvation, there can be several reasons for this.

1. They may NOT be saved, having gone through a process in the past, but never trusting in Christ and surrendering to His Lordship. If so, they need to cry out to God for salvation.
2. God may be getting their attention, calling them to a new season of service or to forsake some sin that is hindering them and hurting the reputation of Christ. The assurance of salvation seems vague and God is calling to them to forsake everything and draw near (so He can speak to them more clearly and they will listen).
3. They may have committed some serious sin or struggle with the nagging habitual sins that make them think, ""How could God forgive me now?"" They have temporarily lost faith in the sufficiency of the Cross.
4. They have been through a traumatic experience that has made them doubt the goodness and reliability of God. ""If God allowed this, does He really love us? And, if He is not trustworthy, maybe my salvation is not real."" These need to study the love and faithfulness of God. They need to discover afresh that God “who cannot lie” always holds true to His promises.

Satan, the Father of lies, fuels these last issues often, for he knows that if they have doubts about their salvation they will be ineffective for Christ.

EXAMINE YOURSELF

Of course, we should ""examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith"" as Paul says in 2 Cor. 13:5. Here’s the test, Paul says: “Is Christ in you?” If He is, there are evidences of His presence. John repeats the same line of thinking in the whole book of 1 John.

But if we discover that #1 or #2 are not the issue, we need to build our faith with the Word of God and the understanding of the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice.

SAVED BY CHRIST ALONE

In the Old Testament, the priests had to offer sacrifices every year to cover the people's sins. This was a picture, a type, pointing towards the coming Christ. They were to trust—not in the sacrifice itself—but the coming Messiah that it pointed to for their salvation. They were saved as they looked forward to Christ; we are saved as we look back at the cross—but both Old Testament and New Testament believers are saved through Christ. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

And His sacrifice was completely sufficient. It only had to happen once and now we ""stand permanently sanctified (set apart) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all!"" God reminds of this over and over again in His letter to the Hebrews.

Behold, I come to do your will. He takes away the first [testament] in order that He may establish the second [testament], by means of which will [God’s will that His Son should be the sacrifice for sin] we stand permanently set apart for God and His service through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:9-10, Wuest translation)

…for by one offering He has brought to completion forever those who are set apart for God and His service.  Hebrews 10:14, Wuest translation)

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14-15)

If we are saved, we are saved forever! Not because of our stellar Christian performance, but by the matchless work of our Sufficient Savior on the cross!

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