How to Know if You are Really Saved

Many people believe that only God decides who can enter Heaven.  This is a true statement.  What these people don’t realize is that He has already made a public statement about this in Matthew 7:21-23, so we can know whether or not we are really saved.  It says “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast our demons and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

What this tell us is that God is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).  He will know whether or not you believed from your heart and acted on His behalf from your heart.

3 ways to know that you are really saved

Once you believe in your heart that God exists and that you need to follow Jesus, there are 3 ways to know that you are really saved:

1/ You’ve made a commitment to God

Faith is the only thing that can save you!  There is a place for good works after you have been saved, but faith alone in God’s promises means you have made a commitment to follow the Lord.  That commitment results in salvation.

Being saved is not an intellectual knowledge of the gospel message and it is not simply the belief that Jesus died for the sins of the world.  The evidence of a true Christian who has been saved is the commitment to God to forsake our best attempts at “being good” in exchange for trusting Him with our lives.  In doing so, we then consent to follow His word by adjusting our thoughts, actions, and daily behavior in obedience to His written word in the Christian Bible. In our new life, we learn God’s purpose for humanity.  And individually, we discover our spiritual gifts and God’s direction and purpose for our lives.

2/ Your life choices demonstrate your faith

When we become Christians, we turn from our sin and we demonstrate our new life and commitment to Christ.  There are 3 characteristics of a new life that illustrate our faith and our repentance:

· A compassionate heart that forgives and helps others.

· A controlled tongue to be kind while avoiding angry words and/or deeds.

· A clean life that demonstrates a change has taken place.

When you accept Christ as your Savior, your new life is evidenced by the above behaviors.  Essentially we are saying “no” to all ungodliness in our lives, and we demonstrate it to others by our choice of a lifestyle that is obedient to the word of God.  We no longer use swear words, live immoral lives, curse others for personal offenses, gossip, punish others or seek revenge, and we certainly do not tell someone we will never forgive them.  These activities occur every day in this evil culture.  God commands that we refrain from doing these things.

3/ You regularly tell others that God extends grace and mercy to all who believe

On the day that we die and stand before God, we must remember that we bring nothing but sin!  The standard for comparison is Jesus—and no one can measure up!  We are currently lost and helpless souls who are undone and in desperate need of a Savior.  This is God’s truth about the world.

Faith alone saves us.  When we have faith in God and His promises, He gives us His grace and He transfers His righteousness to us when He saves us.  We must trust that His promises are true and we go forward in that knowledge with faith.  Our faith is a gift from God, and our good works without faith are nothing but filthy rags in God’s eyes.  This is why we need to trust Him and not ourselves!  When we trust Him, we receive God’s promises:  His love, His blessing, His grace, and His forgiveness.  Even though we’ve received blessings in this life, we deserve punishment for our sins.  But when we accept Jesus as our Savior we are saved by faith alone.  And because God is a merciful and forgiving God when we cast ourselves toward Him, we become a part of His family of believers.

We tell others the truth of this world:  there is a danger to not believing that God can save you.  The world is a scary place, full of sin and evil.  Everyone is aware of this truth merely by being out in the world.  What many don’t know is that God will punish all sin.  We need to tell others about Jesus so they, too, can respond along with us.  We respond through acceptance of Jesus as our Savior and then we repent of our sins.

Everyone alive today must believe that they need a Savior—and it’s an easy decision

Believing the gospel message acknowledges in us the truth about Jesus.  He was and is the Son of God, and when Jesus came the first time, He came as our Savior.  Before He comes again as our judge, everyone needs to individually receive His forgiveness, love, grace, and mercy because of what He did for us.  And in reality, we don’t want to have to unnecessarily face judgment for our sins when we die.  With true faith, we understand and believe that Jesus already paid the price for all sin in the world.  The result of accepting Jesus as our Savior is the ability to live in peace with the knowledge that we are saved.  There are 3 ways you can do this:

· Believe in God’s promises by accepting Jesus as your Savior.  This is not an intellectual decision but a heartfelt one.

· Live a solid Christian life by ridding yourself of sin (as a new person, stop ungodly behavior—this is called obedience and repentance).

· Help others to realize these truths so that they, too, can be saved.  It’s really an easy decision when you consider the consequences of disobedience to God.  Remember, He is the Creator of the Universe and He can save your soul.

Why it’s an easy decision

Accepting Jesus as your Savior is a very easy decision when you consider the consequences of not believing.  Not everyone goes to Heaven and there is only one other destination:  Hell.  What does your heart tell you about God, Heaven, and the offer of salvation that was made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross?  Or to put it another way, what does your heart tell you about a possible existence in Hell if that is what you really choose for yourself?

If you are a believer, Jesus is now your advocate in front of God.  It will be easy to trust Him with your life when you believe in your heart what the Bible says about God, Jesus, life, and His love for you. 

If you are an unbeliever, please consider that this is a very easy decision because we all want to go to Heaven when we die; some even expect to go to Heaven because they think they are good people!  There is no such thing as a good person in God’s eyes.  That is why He sent Jesus as our Savior.

The way to Heaven is the understanding that you must follow Jesus and then take action in this life, before you die.  Believers know that Jesus is their advocate.  We can all use an advocate.  Don’t reject this gift.  Choose God and Heaven.

Everyone must follow Jesus—He is the only person who can save you.  Turn from your sin, ask God for His forgiveness, and invite Jesus to become your Lord and Savior.