QUESTION: “Can I really KNOW if I’m saved?”
Let’s go together to the Word of God for an answer.
- A person can KNOW that he is lost (Eph. 2:10) in sin (Rom. 3:23) if he has never obeyed the gospel of Christ. 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess. 1:7-9).
- A person can KNOW when he has been forgiven of all of his past sins. 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17-18).
According to these two passages, how can a person know that he has been made free from sin and therefore saved? Note:
- The gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4; cf. Rom. 10:16; 1 Pet. 4:17) is the 1) death, 2) burial, and 3) resurrection of Christ.
- The individual who does not “obey the gospel” (2 Thess. 1:8) will be punished with everlasting destruction (2 Thess. 1:9), i.e., hell (Mat. 10:28; 13:50; 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43; Luke 12:5; Jude 1:7; Rev. 20:15; 21:8).
- But the gospel is a set of facts (i.e., Jesus died, Jesus was buried, and Jesus was resurrected on the third day).
- A person obeys these facts by obeying a “form” of these facts (cf. Rom. 6:17-18).
- Only one biblical action (i.e., baptism) serves as a form of the gospel. 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His DEATH? 4 Therefore we were BURIED with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was RAISED FROM THE DEAD by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-4, emphasis mine–mb).
- A person can know that he has been saved from all of his past sins when he has been baptised. 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38a).
- The word translated “remission” refers to pardon, forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed).
3. A person can KNOW when has been saved from his past sins and that he is being cleansed of daily sins. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7; cf. Eph. 4:1-3).
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 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 5:11-13–emphasis mine, mb).
“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” – Mike
INCARNATE 