How to Know If You're Saved
I want to help turn you from a doubting Christian to a shouting Christian! From a "hope-so" salvation to a "know-so" salvation! And you can do that by taking a simple test I have devised from 1 John in God’s Word. First, let me say that if you have doubts, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not saved. Doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body. Second, when God made you, He breathed life into you, and you became a living soul. You could no more cease to exist than God Himself could cease to exist. Your soul will go on endlessly and timelessly...either in heaven or hell.
The Lordship Test
Is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? Jesus said, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46). Here’s a riddle I want to solve for you. On the one hand, the Bible says that we know that we’re saved because we keep His commandments (See 1 John 2:3). On the other hand, the Bible teaches us that it is possible to sin (See 1 John 1:8-9). The key word is “keep.” It is the same word used years ago by sailors who navigated by the stars at night. A sailor’s goal was to keep the stars. As a child of God, His commandments are the stars by which you navigate your life. Is keeping His commandments the burning desire of your heart? It is as if you’ve met the Christ of Calvary.
The Fellowship Test
Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? The Bible challenges us on several occasions that this is the way we will know we are in Christ (1 John 3:14, 4:20, 5:1). When you get saved, you receive the divine nature of God, and the nature of God is love (1 John 4:7). You’re not saved because you love the brethren, you love the brethren because you’re saved. Love is the nature of the Christian because love is the nature of God. If we love the Lord Jesus, it follows as night follows day that we are going to love what Jesus loves.
The Relationship Test
The question is not, “Did you believe in Jesus Christ?” The question is, rather, “Are you believing Jesus right now?” If you can’t remember when you were saved, that’s okay. 1 John 5:11-12 says, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Can you say that at this very moment, you have a personal relationship with Jesus right now?
You may not be able to say that if you died tonight, you would go to heaven. I want to help you do what I did as a teenage boy many years ago. I turned to the Lord when I was faced with uncertainty. I said, “God, I don’t know whether I am lost, and the Holy Spirit has me under conviction or whether I am saved, and the devil is trying to make me doubt it. But one thing I know, I want to get it certain right now. You said that if I would believe you, then You would save me. With all my heart, as much in me is, once and for all, now and forever, I trust You to save me.”
By Adrian Rogers. © 2006 Love Worth Finding Ministries. Website. www.lwf.org.
Dr. Adrian Rogers, preacher/teacher of Love Worth Finding Ministries and one of America's most respected Bible teachers. Under his 32 years of pastoral leadership, Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN, grew from 9,000 members in 1972 to more than 29,000.
Most important to Dr. Rogers have been the tens and thousands of believers who have had their faith strengthened and thousands of others who have for the first time entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Dr. Rogers passed away on November 15, 2005.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Fa Barboza
