Can I Really Know I’m Saved?
We are all sinners, and though I thank God every day for all he has provided me, and beg him to not leave me, how do I know when all is said and done and I am standing before God he will not say to me, “Be gone! I know you not.”
Q. I left the Catholic church when I was 35, I am now 60. Until this day, and for the rest of my life, I will always feel the guilt of the death of Jesus. I am afraid, as are many of us once Catholics, that when we one day stand before God he will say, “I know you not.” The fear of hell is very real. I watch in horror all that is now happening in the news and most especially this new movie coming out, The DaVinci Code. It is holy week and people are talking of Jesus having an affair with Mary Magdalene, never walking on water and all of the rest. You could just cry for all of the sin around us.
Here is my question to you. We are all sinners, and though I thank God every day for all he has provided me, and beg him to not leave me, how do I know when all is said and done and I am standing before God he will not say to me, “Be gone! I know you not.” Several of us were talking about this and I thought I would ask you. We do believe that Jesus is the son of God made man that came to earth and died for our sins that we may know everlasting life in heaven. It is only by the blood of Jesus washing us clean that we can ever hope to stand before God the father and hope and pray he tells us welcome. So there you have it.
Can you help?
A. Although much debate rages over the question of our security, there are several simple and clear verses that give us great comfort and should have ended the debate long ago.
Ephesians 1:13 says we were saved at the moment we first believed and the Holy Spirit was immediately sealed within us as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Guaranteeing our inheritance! Before we had done anything good to earn it or anything bad to lose it.
Romans 10:9 says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts the God raised Him from the dead we will be saved.
John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave His only beloved son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
I could go on here with numerous other verses like Titus 3:4-7, John 6:28-29. John 6:40, 2 Cor. 1:21-22, Hebrews 7:25 and 10:14. The under girding principle in all of them is that we’re not saved by our behavior but by our belief.
If you truly believe what you said in your final paragraph, you need have no fear. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1:6)
