How can I be sure of my salvation?

Many people struggle with uncertainty about their salvation. If you are facing this struggle, here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you be certain about your relationship to God.

1. Have I believed in Jesus Christ as the substitute for my sins and received him as my personal Savior?

   The Bible says that this is the only requirement for salvation.

   Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).

2. Are you trusting feelings, rather than God's Word, for assurance of salvation?

   The Bible says:

   Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him (John 3:36).

   I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24).

3. Are you basing your salvation on what you do for God, instead of what God has done for you?

   The Bible says that we can do nothing to earn our salvation. God, because of His grace, did all that needs to be done.

   He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy (Titus 3:5a).

   For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

   The Bible says that we can know for certain that we have eternal life if we have believed in Jesus as our Savior!

   And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 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 (1 John 5:11-13).

Evidences of the Christian Life

Belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died as the substitute for our sins is the only requirement for salvation. The following are not tests of our faith, because we cannot be good enough to merit God's salvation. We can be encouraged that we do have eternal life because God says so, because changes have taken place in our lives, because we want to share Christ with others, and because we desire to live lives that would be pleasing to God.

1. We know that we have eternal life because God says we do.

   God's Word tells us that we have eternal life if we have received Christ as our Savior.

   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 (1 John 5:13).

2. We know that we have eternal life because changes have taken place in our lives since we became a Christian.

   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).

   These may be small changes. At first, they may not even be noticeable to others. But this verse tells us that positionally, we become a new person when we accept Christ and changes in our life are inevitable.

3. We know that we have eternal life because we want to share Christ with others.

   I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 1:16).

4. We know that we have eternal life because we want to live godly lives.

   For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age… (Titus 2:11-12).

MORE INFORMATION ON SALVATION and related topics

• Can a saved person ever be lost? - Answer
• How can I be and feel forgiven? - Answer
• If God forgives me everytime I ask, why do I still feel so guilty? - Answer
• Assurance of salvation (definition) - Go
• If a Christian commits suicide, will he go to Heaven? - Answer
• How can I get to heaven? How to be saved. - Answer
• Is circumcision a requirement for salvation for Christian males? - Answer
• Can a gay person go to heaven? - Answer
• God's sovereignity, election, and man's free will - What does the Bible say? - Answer
• Are you good enough to go to heaven? - Go
• Teach me ABOUT THE BIBLE - Go
• Read God's Story to better understand who God is, who humans are, the nature of sin, and God's plan, etc. - Go
• Salvation by grace alone, not your efforts (a difference between Biblical Christianity and teachings common in the Roman Catholic church) - Go
• Salvation (definition) - Go
• Redemption (definition) - Go
• Regeneration (definition) - Go
• Can small children come to Christ to be saved? - Answer
• What is the eternal destiny of an infant who dies? - Answer
• What does God expect of me? - Answer
• Aren't all religions basically the same? Why do Christians insist that one must believe in Christ alone to be saved? - Answer
• What does the Bible mean when it refers to the "Baptism of the dead?" - Answer

Author: Dawson McAllister of Dawson McAllister Live!

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