How to absolutely know for sure you're saved

Hoping2 said:

They can repent of sin, but it takes baptism in the name of Jesus Christ to both wash away past sin (Acts 2:38, 22:16) and provide the destruction of the "flesh"/old man. (Rom 6:6, Gal 5:24)

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Spirit

I have started a thread on this topic that folks might like to join if they are interested.

You'll know when you die. We can speculate all we want, but that's the only 100% proof.

Sword of the Lord said:

We can speculate all we want, but that's the only 100% proof.

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Yes, we're not in charge

Sword of the Lord said:

You'll know when you die. We can speculate all we want, but that's the only 100% proof.

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And yet, the Lord clearly wants us to know and, in fact, admonishes/commands us to be certain that we are (saved, that is), and that on this side of the grave. For instance,


The question is, how? How do we examine ourselves/what are some of the many things in our lives that we look for to see if we've passed the test .. or not?

God bless you!!

--David
p.s. - here's a quote from pastor and theologian A. W. Pink about one of the ways that will help us know. What are some of the others?

We only need to concern ourselves about seeking the truth all our lives. The truth matters more than our personal salvation.

Why am I telling you this instead of telling you how to get saved or how to make sure you're saved?

Because all of it would be futile exercise if what you knew from the beginning turned out to be false. I don't have the answer because nothing have stood up to scrutiny so far.

timewerx said:

We only need to concern ourselves about seeking the truth all our lives.

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Jesus says rather to seek the Father and His will. But yes, seeking truth can be futile because man keep inserting ourselves between God and seekers.

timothyu said:

Yes, we're not in charge

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Thanks be to God for supplying all we need to walk as Christ walked.

timewerx said:

We only need to concern ourselves about seeking the truth all our lives. The truth matters more than our personal salvation.

Why am I telling you this instead of telling you how to get saved or how to make sure you're saved?

Because all of it would be futile exercise if what you knew from the beginning turned out to be false. I don't have the answer because nothing have stood up to scrutiny so far.

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By Grace you are saved through faith (not truth)

We are saved by The Truth, not by seeking truth.

It is a gift we receive, not something we find...

A door was opened previously closed. All will pass through but few will take up residence as self was the motivating factor of most.

Carl Emerson said:

By Grace you are saved through faith (not truth)

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If that is not the truth, then you're in trouble.

The Bible can be twisted in meaning or context in almost any agenda with either good or evil outcome. Just because a denomination is popular means it possesses the way of salvation. Broad is the way to destruction, only few will find the narrow gate. Christianity isn't minority religion in the world, in fact, there are more Christians than Atheists, more Christians than any other religion.

Whether salvation is easy, difficult, or even a "free gift", none of that matters if it isn't the truth. It becomes nothing more than a futile exercise

timewerx said:

If that is not the truth, then you're in trouble.

The Bible can be twisted in meaning or context in almost any agenda with either good or evil outcome. Just because a denomination is popular means it possesses the way of salvation. Broad is the way to destruction, only few will find the narrow gate. Christianity isn't minority religion in the world, in fact, there are more Christians than Atheists, more Christians than any other religion.

Whether salvation is easy, difficult, or even a "free gift", none of that matters if it isn't the truth. It becomes nothing more than a futile exercise

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Maybe I should explain a bit more...

An encounter with the Spirit of Truth is essential in becoming born again but the pursuit of Truth is not salvific in itself.

A fundamental flaw in modern Christianity is falling prey to the sin in the garden - seeking to know as a self centred pursuit. This was Satans weapon of choice to control matters in the garden.

We see folks chasing every seminar that moves but such activity does not bare the fruit of revival.

Hey I'm glad God didn't plan it that way otherwise only the intellectually gifted would be saved.

No it's about encounter with a Loving Father and being called home to His order, and departing from ours.

We are not in trouble...

But unless you become as a little child you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

No one of age on earth is incapable of that.

David2019 said:

If it really depends only on myself I'm not gonna make it

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David, take your eyes off of yourself and look to Jesus. Just before he died on the cross, Jesus said "it is finished." He did all that God requires for our salvation at the cross. It's about Him, not about us. The only thing God wants from us is that we admit our need of a savior and trust his finished work on the cross as full payment for our sin.
Reading my testimony might help you; below is a link to it here at CF.

Regards,

John

David2019 said:

Ok so i'm freaking out right now over here. I need to absolutely, 100% foolproof, 100% watertight, no doubt know for sure if I'm saved. I'm a believer and baptized but I cannot say 100% for sure if I'm saved. I've been fighting and searching everywhere for the past 5 years but I cannot know it for sure unless God told it to me personally. I've asked other believers, spend hundreds of hours on the internet searching and analysing every article there is on this topic, thousands of hours ruminating in my head but I cannot come to absolute certainty. I cannot go to the bible because there are enough verses that hinge on the possibility that I might not be saved and I need to know 100% for sure. I cannot live by faith alone, there is too much at stake here, I NEED TO KNOW FOR SURE!

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You will know.

David2019 said:

Ok so i'm freaking out right now over here. I need to absolutely, 100% foolproof, 100% watertight, no doubt know for sure if I'm saved. I'm a believer and baptized but I cannot say 100% for sure if I'm saved. I've been fighting and searching everywhere for the past 5 years but I cannot know it for sure unless God told it to me personally. I've asked other believers, spend hundreds of hours on the internet searching and analysing every article there is on this topic, thousands of hours ruminating in my head but I cannot come to absolute certainty. I cannot go to the bible because there are enough verses that hinge on the possibility that I might not be saved and I need to know 100% for sure. I cannot live by faith alone, there is too much at stake here, I NEED TO KNOW FOR SURE!

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Have you done this?

Romans 10:9: Because, 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.

Does your life exhibit these?

Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

and not this?

Galatians 5:19-21: Now the works of the flesh are evident:
sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger,
rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy,
drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

St_Worm2 said:

p.s. - here's a quote from pastor and theologian A. W. Pink about one of the ways that will help us know. What are some of the others?

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Thanks for sharing this , I grieve everyday over my sins so I know I must be on the right path

David2019 said:

Ok so i'm freaking out right now over here. I need to absolutely, 100% foolproof, 100% watertight, no doubt know for sure if I'm saved. I'm a believer and baptized but I cannot say 100% for sure if I'm saved. I've been fighting and searching everywhere for the past 5 years but I cannot know it for sure unless God told it to me personally. I've asked other believers, spend hundreds of hours on the internet searching and analysing every article there is on this topic, thousands of hours ruminating in my head but I cannot come to absolute certainty. I cannot go to the bible because there are enough verses that hinge on the possibility that I might not be saved and I need to know 100% for sure. I cannot live by faith alone, there is too much at stake here, I NEED TO KNOW FOR SURE!

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If we are not perfect, possibly we can not do anything absolutely perfectly. So, we are wise to know that God knows and depend on Him and trust our Heavenly Father who knows, to do whatsoever He knows is really right, with us.

And do what our Apostle Paul says . . . in case he means what I am offering >

"Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves." (in 2 Corinthians 13:5)

In case you are expected to examine your self about this, do this.

However, if you need to do a medical exam to see how your health is . . . do you do this on your own?

I would say, get with the right doctor in order to examine yourself.

And we need to be with Jesus as our Great Physician to do our examination the right way.

But God does use His word. And I offer how our Apostle Paul says we need >

"faith working through love" (in Galatians 5:6)

So, being saved includes having Biblical faith . . . not mere belief, but the faith which is working in us "through love" > God's love which is curing our character to become like Jesus >

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

So, trust God to truly correct our character in His own love, so that we "may have boldness in the day of judgment" because of being "as He is" "in this world."

Do you hate the world of man or are you defensive of mankind’s ways?

David2019 said:

If it really depends only on myself I'm not gonna make it

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That's right. If it depends on human effort no-one is going to make it.

Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

How to be saved:

We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6)

The punishment for our sin was on Jesus, by his wounds we are healed. All Jesus, not us.

God Bless You

David,
I can identify with your struggle. Many years ago I went through a struggle with assurance of salvation similar to yours. I had questions about “believing in Jesus” and about how to know for sure, without any doubt, that I was saved? My life was consumed with fear, doubt, and misery.

The reason I am responding again to this thread is that I want to share some additional thoughts about my struggle with doubts & fears concerning my salvation.

The Holy Spirit showed me the true meaning of “believing in Jesus” one night as I sat at my kitchen table reading the Gospel of John. Saving faith or “believing” is so simple that many people have a difficult time “getting it.” I was one of those people. One of the problems for me was that some preachers would quote a scripture like Romans 10:13 'For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And, then ask people who wanted to be saved to say a prayer, asking Jesus to save them. Well, I could not understand how saying a prayer “in Jesus' name” would save someone. The Holy Spirit showed me that the next verse, verse 14, explains what verse 13 means; verse 14 “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Together these 2 verses are saying that before a person calls on the name of the Lord that he/she must believe in Him, and to believe in Him the person needs to hear about Him, and to hear about Him requires someone to tell them about Him. Combine Romans 10:13-14 with John 6:44-45 and we see that Gods' Word is telling us that a person is convinced to “believe” by the Holy Spirit; not by a preacher. The preacher gives the message & the Holy Spirit uses that message to convince us of the truth. Can you see how taking just one verse alone can be misleading or confusing?

David, after reading your original post, I assume you have come to understand your need to be saved, and that you believe that Jesus died on the cross for you. It appears to me that you are struggling with assurance of salvation in the same way I struggled with it many years ago.

Now, to save you the time of reading a very long testimony of how the Holy Spirit showed me the true meaning of “believing in Jesus” I want to get straight to the point of this message.

First, when Jesus died on the cross, shedding His blood there, He did all that God requires for you to be forgiven of all your sins. He paid the penalty for your sins, and for my sins; it is a penalty that we could never pay ourselves. Just before He died, Jesus said “It is finished.” He was saying that the debt has been paid; the debt that we owe God for our sin, a debt that we cannot pay was paid for us by His finished work on the cross.

Can you see that Jesus did everything for us that is needed for us to be forgiven and by his resurrection He also did everything required for us to live in heaven with him for all eternity?

Next, the difficult part, about believing; the part of this whole matter of salvation that is so simple that some people like myself have a real difficult with understanding what it really means. After the Holy Spirit “turned on the light” for me and I “got it,” I saw the real meaning of “believing;” one way to describe it is that it means “whatever I am depending on for my salvation.”

In other words; believing is depending on something that you are “convinced” is the absolute truth. The moment that the Holy Spirit convinced me that when Jesus died on the cross He did all that God required for my sin to be forgiven was the moment that light came on and I got it. I was reading the Gospel of John, and that was the moment that the Holy Spirit brought me out of the darkness of unbelief into the light of the truth of the Gospel. I was convinced that Jesus was waiting for me to come to Him so He could forgive my sin and give me the new heart, new life, that only He could give me. The whole matter changed from me “trying” to believe in Him, to “I could not help but to believe in Him.” In an instant, the moment that light came on, I was a believer and I found myself talking to Jesus as though He was right there in the room with me. That was the Holy Spirit working out Romans 10:13-14 and John 6:44-45 in me. I had heard about the finished work of Jesus, I believed that message, and I believed in Him, then I called on Him. Some people will disagree with me about this statement, but I think I was born again the moment I “got it.” That was the moment my troubled soul rested in the message of the cross, and that moment of coming to rest in the Gospel message was the moment of genuine salvation for me. At that moment an enormous sense of “relief” overwhelmed my troubled soul. Then when I called out to Him was evidence that I had just become a born again believer. If I didn't believe in Him I would not have called out to Him, but I could not help myself. I had to thank him for dying on the cross for my sins, and I asked Him to change me however He wanted. It was all brought about by the working of the Holy Spirit as He used the truth of the Gospel message to convince me to believe.

Final thoughts. Before the Holy Spirit did his convincing work in me, I was depending on the prayer I said, and depending on going to the altar to confess my sin and promises to serve God, etc. to be saved. But, the Holy Spirit changed that when He convinced me that my salvation is not about anything I could do, but is about what Jesus had already done for me on the cross. Now I know, without any doubt, that I am saved, born again, I not depending on any prayer that I said to save me; I'm not depending on anything I have done or anything I could do to be saved. Jesus did it all. It's a done deal. It's about Him; not about me. I did all the sinning & He did all the saving. That day, over 50 years ago, I found a peace that I still have today. It is a peace that is impossible to explain to anyone who has never found that peace for themselves.

If/when the devil comes around trying to rob me of my peace & assurance I quote the 3rd verse of my favorite hymn to him and he leaves me alone. That hymn is “It Is Well with My Soul,” third verse: by Horatio G Spafford

My Sin Oh The Bliss of This Glorious Thought
My Sin Not in Part but the Whole
Is Nailed to the Cross and I bear It No More
Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Oh My Soul

David, examine yourself by asking these questions; “Am I depending on the prayer I said? Am I depending on anything that I have done? Or am I depending on, trusting in, resting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross?

Regards,

John