The Basics: How do I Know if I’m Saved?
Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by Les Lanphere in Theology
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” -John 3:3
The Biblical prescription for salvation is: Repent, believe, and be baptized. Looking around the American Church landscape, you’ll quickly notice that there are an awful lot of people who say they’ve done those things, yet haven’t changed at all. So is that all there is to it, just do a couple rituals, change into some dry clothes and get on with your normal life? Does being a Christian actually change anything? Is it up to me to pick myself up by my bootstraps and start changing? How do I know if I’m doing it right?
Jesus says we must take up our crosses, and follow Him. The Bible says we must die to ourselves. What does it mean to take up a cross, or die to self? Are these extra things we have to do to get to Heaven?
You Must be Born Again
The problem with mankind is that we don’t desire God. He made us and we quickly walked away. Ever since Adam’s sin we have been prone to sin, and incapable of good.
“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” -Genesis 6:5
Scripture tells us that the good news of Christ’s death for our sins is impossible for this natural, evil man to believe. We can’t do anything good, and believing in Jesus would be the greatest thing anyone could do… so we’re stuck. We are in our sins, we don’t want God, God has a plan of salvation, and we all refuse to believe it.
Our sinful natures must be altered in order for us to actually exercise faith. Thankfully this is all part of the plan. Six hundred years before Christ came, God told us how he would deal with this part of the problem.
“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” -Ezekiel 11:19
As far as our ability to respond to God goes, we are dead. The part of us that is sensitive to God, that can believe the gospel, died in the garden, and so the Bible tells us we are “dead in sins and trespasses”. We have cold, dead hearts of stone. So when the gospel finally makes sense to us, it’s because God has changed our hearts. It is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. He takes out or sin-loving, God-hating heart of stone, and replaces it with a God-loving, sin-hating heart of flesh. We are then free, for the first time, to believe the gospel.
In the Bible, this work of God to change a man is called being “born again” it’s also referred to in scripture and especially by theologians as “regeneration”. Just like being born naturally, we have no control over how or when this happens to us. God changes a man at His own will, whenever He wants. We do know, however, that it most often happens when the gospel is being preached to a person, or when someone is thinking about the gospel.
We Can’t Just Go On Sinning
Looking at the gospel without this key of regeneration leads to an interesting, and dangerous problem. Jesus died to forgive our sins, His perfect life covers over our sinful life, all our sins, past, present, and future are already taken care of the moment we believe. If salvation is just a sort of an easy one-time inoculation, then the obvious question is: “so I can just sin all I want, and not worry about the consequences anymore?”. Actually, that’s exactly what a clear understanding of the gospel should lead us to ask. But that can’t be right, can it?
God isn’t stupid. He didn’t miss this detail. As discussed earlier, natural man can not believe, so the work of Christ can not be applied through faith to just any ol’ sinner. The same work God does to make a man able to believe, also changes his nature so drastically that it reverses his relationship to sin. The person’s desires are completely changed. He no longer loves to sin, and he starts to fight against it. He now desires to seek God’s will and do God’s work. He has a love for God’s word (the Bible) and God’s people (the Church).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” -2 Corinthians 5:17
What Does it Look Like to be a Christian?
For more information on what being a Christian really looks like, scripture is clear. The book of First John lays out the changes we should be looking for. Read through it, if you aren’t seeing your life moving constantly (though sometimes very slowly) in those directions, you have valid reason to be concerned about you salvation. A Christian can’t lose their salvation, but people can be fooled into thinking they were saved, when they were never truly born again.
What If I’m Not Saved?
If all this quesitoning and introspection leads you to think you might not be in Christ, you need to go back to the beginning. Make sure you understand the gospel. Ask a Christian friend or pastor to clarify any questions you might have, and compare their answers to scripture. If you think you clearly understand what Christ did, but still see no change in your life, cry out to God. The fact that you desire to be holy is proof that God is working in you, get on your face and ask Him to save you and change you… He’s always faithful.
“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”" -Romans 10:13
beltoftruth1
Mar 2nd, 2010
I agree with everything you say except your first statement: “The Biblical prescription for salvation is: Repent, believe, and be baptized.”. The implication is that baptism is required for salvation. Is that your belief?
Les Lanphere
Mar 2nd, 2010
No, I’m not saying that if someone isn’t baptized they’re not saved. I’m simply stating the biblical prescription.
“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” -Acts 2:37-38
I understand baptism to be an outward symbol of an inward change, and if, for some reason you can’t do so (i.e. saved on your death bed), It doesn’t mean you aren’t saved.
But I would submit to you that if a believer lives his life knowing the Biblical command, and neglects to do so… this is flat disobedience. I’m not saying it keeps you out of Heaven, but it’s sin nonetheless.
I don’t think there’s magic in the water, or that you get saved through it, but God has certainly commanded us to be baptized.
beltoftruth1
Mar 2nd, 2010
I agree with you. Acts 2:38 is a proof text for groups who believe baptism is required for salvation, Oneness Pentecostals to name one. We must be clear that salvation is all of God and none of us.
With regard to obedience, this is one of the tests in 1st John as you point out in your post.
David
Jun 24th, 2010
I was raised in the Baptist church, my father was a pastor at one time. I made a public confession of my faith when I was young and was baptised. I became a missionary and did that work for nearly 20 years.
I no longer believe in the Trinity, the virgin birth, or that Jesus was God. I no longer believe that salvation is by faith nor do I believe in the inerrancy of the bible.
But I do firmly believe in God and what Jesus actually said (not what they say he said). I pray every day and read and study the scriptures. I love God and Jesus. I see miracles happening all the time because of my faith and prayer.
Am I saved or not?
Les Lanphere
Jun 25th, 2010
I don’t take your question lightly, and I have to assume you’re being somewhat facetious… everything I say here is in love.
It’s a hard thing to indicate exactly where one goes about cutting the lifeline of the gospel completely. Jesus not being God gives you no hope of a divine substitution, and a human substitute is insufficient.
“Truly no man can ransom another,or give to God the price of his life…” -Psalm 49:7
More than anything, I’d zero in on the idea that salvation is not be faith. If it is not by faith, it must be by works, so you, yourself don’t even know if you’re saved until the judgement is made, right?
I must say from the information you’ve offered up, that the work of Christ has not been applied to you, and you don’t believe it was sufficient anyway. So you are not saved.
But I’d invite you, even now, to repent. See Christ’s perfect atoning work as the sole solution to your problem. That being that God is justly angry with your sin, and there is nothing you can do to please Him. Without Christ’s blood being shed in your place, you will be eternally condemned. Repent and believe the gospel, I beg you.
And if you won’t, I would love to know how you believe a man is saved. What is your hope that you are/may be at peace with God?
Brendan
Sep 29th, 2010
It is interesting to me that David has rejected the essential tenants of the faith namely what Romans 10:13 states on how to be saved. His not believing the deity of Christ proves that the new birth has not taken place. I John 2:19 ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.’
Every man is an antichrist, who denies the Person, or any of the offices of Christ; and in denying the Son, he denies the Father also, and has no part in his favour while he rejects his great salvation. Let us pity and pray for those who deny the Deity of Christ, or his atonement, and the new-creating work of the Holy Ghost. Let us protest against such anti-christian doctrine, and keep from them as much as we may.
Angie
Nov 23rd, 2010
The bible says ‘Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?’. Even the devil believes in God. Simply believing is not enough. The bible also says that you are none of his if you don’t have his spirit. So if you don’t have the Holy Ghost, you’re not saved.