Do You Know If You Are Saved?
by Samuel A. Matthews
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (II Corinthians 13:5 KJV).
Loved ones, shall we leave the most important question of our entire life to dark uncertainty? A beloved brother in the Lord teamed up with a fellow Christian to go into an unfamiliar area and knock on doors. When the person in the house came to the door, they would ask a simple question: "If you should die today, would you go to Heaven?"
Somewhat astonishingly, most did not know. This question and their reply became a fruitful way to start a Bible study. As a result, eighteen (18) precious souls were taught and baptized into Christ. Then the new converts received further instruction on how to live the Christian life, making their salvation sure (cf. II Peter 1:5-11).
Is it possible for one to know whether or not he is in a saved condition with God? Is it possible for one to know that if he should die today that he would go to Heaven? Let us see what God's sacred Word says.
God's Word Is Urgent
When Paul and Silas persuaded the frightened Philippian jailor following the earthquake and the cell doors flying open, that they were all there so that he need not take his life, they urged in answer to his tremulous question, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" — "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:30-31).
Faith in Jesus Christ, God's Son, always comes before any additional command, as we see here: "And he (the jailor) took them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes (fruits of repentance); and was baptized (to be saved), he and all his, straightway" (Acts 16:33; Mark 16:16).
After Saul of Tarsus saw the glorified Lord, he received the urgent command, "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).
For some reason, nobody ever ate a bite, drank a drop, nor slept a wink once they believed on Jesus, before they hastened to be baptized. It was here, in water baptism, that their sins were washed away by the blood of Jesus (Acts 2:38; Matthew 26:28; Acts 22:16; Revelation 1:5). It was here they became a child of God as they entered Christ (Galatians 3:26-27). It was here the Lord Himself would add them to His church (Acts 2:47). It was here their names would be enrolled in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:12), and the Holy Spirit would take lodging in their hearts (Acts 2:38-39; 5:32; Romans 5:5; Ephesians 1:13; etc.).
After faith in Jesus (John 20:30-31), repentance from sins (Acts 3:19; 17:30), open confession of faith in Jesus (Romans 10:9-10), and immersion into Christ (Romans 6:3-4), one is completely forgiven of all past sins (Acts 22:16); he is saved (I Peter 3:21).
Things that Follow
On Pentecost, after about 3,000 obeyed the Gospel (repenting and being baptized), these early church of Christ members "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). All newly born-again souls (John 3:3-5) are to do the same.
They are commanded to assemble every Lord's Day (Hebrews 10:25), partake of the Lord's Supper (Acts 20:7), sing and pray (Colossians 3:16), grow and draw closer to God while feeding on the Spirit-filled Word (John 6:63; et al.), and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 2:27).
What If I Sin?
Once I become a member of the Lord's body, His church, Jesus Himself becomes my High Priest, and I receive forgiveness of sins as I repent and confess (Hebrews 4:14; I John 1:9; 2:1-2). As a little stream flows beside the highway, the blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing me: "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). By this, I can know I am saved.
Our Lord does not want our salvation to rest in uncertainty, but in absolute certainty, and we can have this certainty only by knowing and obeying the sacred Scriptures themselves (II Timothy 3:16-17; Acts 17:11).
