You
can know you are saved from God's judgment!
- First,
the Bible does teach that we should examine our salvation.
"Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you
not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified." (2 Cor 13:5 NKJV)
- So,
on one hand, it is proper to question if you are indeed a child of God.
It does not hurt to reread and study the gospel story. In fact, the best
way is to share the story with others!
- On
the other hand, a quaking faith in the sufficiency of God's plan of salvation
towards your life once you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ is
not biblical. The devil and the world can wreck havoc with your faith
without a sure foundation.
- Since "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God" (Romans 10:17), consider the following verses for assurance:
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
(1 John 2:3-6 NKJV)
We know that we
have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. (1 John 3:14 NKJV)
Now he who keeps His commandments abides
in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. Beloved, do not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because
many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. (1 John 3:24-4:3 NKJV)
If we love one another, God abides in
us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And
we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior
of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides
in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides
in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:12-16 NKJV)
By this we know that
we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes
the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our
faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that
Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:2-5 NKJV)
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. (1 John
5:13 NKJV)
And we know that
the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we
may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This
is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20-21 NKJV)
- It
is fitting to question your walk against the above criteria... the very
questioning is in itself evidence of a working faith.
...for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed
to Him until that Day. (2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV)
- We do not start eternal life after we
die, we possess life eternal from the moment of being born again.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36 NKJV)
Most
assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. (John 5:24 NKJV)
- Notice the first two occurances of the word "has" are
in the present tense, not the future tense "will have". The last "has" is combined with "passed" in the ...uhmmm... past tense. Those that believe were dead, now they have life that will never end. You cannot have "eternal" life one day, be dead the next, then live again, only to die once more, etc,
etc... Consider the words of Jesus:
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them
to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out
of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. (John 10:27-30 NKJV)
- Do
you hear His voice? Then take comfort that He knows you!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a
living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to
an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away,
reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV)
To Him who is able to keep
you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great
joy — to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!
Amen. (Jude 24-25 NIV)
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you
completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also
will do it. (1 Thes 5:23-24 NKJV)