“I sure hope so,” responded a parishioner when asked if he was sure of going to heaven. Others replied, “I am a good person,” “I was baptized as an infant,” or “I’m a church member,” all good things.
Yet salvation doesn’t rest in them. Assurance in the death and resurrection of Jesus, not our own goodness or merit, gives eternal life.
My mom can testify that when I was four, the preacher asked if anyone wanted to make Jesus part of their life, and I answered yes. Through the years, there were times I needed reassurance.
But when I doubted the truth of Scripture, God’s boundless love and the Holy Spirit within reminded me I couldn’t earn it, merit it, or be good enough.
It was God’s gift. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works so that no one can boast.”
The Bible gives guidance in what it means to be saved and know if we are.
1. The Bible Tells Me I Can Know I Am Saved
According to the Sunday School song, “How can I be sure? The Bible tells me so.” The Author who divinely inspired the best-selling book of all time says we are loved, forgiven, filled with the Holy Spirit, and promised heaven.
Forty authors wrote as they were divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. And because God is “not a man that He should lie,” we can believe what is written (Numbers 23:19).
The Bible tells us that God loves us. “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:17-18).
The Bible tells us God forgives our sins, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit dwells within, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
The Bible tells us that God gives eternal life, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The Bible tells us we can know we are saved. John, the Beloved disciple, described it this way, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13, emphasis added).
2. The Love of Jesus Tells Me I Am Saved
The story of redemption gives us confidence that God loves us. Jesus, sinless perfection, came from heaven, lived among us, and died to pay the penalty of sin so that none would be separated from God.
I can know for sure that I’m loved eternally “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
And there’s more. We have the Holy Spirit within.
3. The Holy Spirit Within Tells Me I Am Saved
When you become a Christian, “the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:9, emphasis added), confirming we are a child of God as “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16).
We have a guarantee of heaven. The help of the Holy Spirit “rescues me from every evil action and brings me safely into His heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18).
The Holy Spirit places our heavenly identification on us within. When you believed, “you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
With Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are confident God will get us to heaven because “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
God has provided all that is needed for us to know we are saved. The Bible tells us God’s love shows us, and the Holy Spirit fills us.
When we respond by believing, repenting, and walking with the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed into a citizen of heaven. We are saved!
4. I Am Saved by Believing in Jesus
Believing is trusting in and being thoroughly persuaded of who Jesus is — God, Savior, Redeemer, Lord, Master, and Lover of my soul. Being fully convinced I am loved and forgiven by the work of Jesus on the cross is vital.
Romans 10:9-10 confirms we are saved, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
The repentant thief on the cross was told by Jesus, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). He didn’t have time to right his wrongs, join a church, or be baptized. The thief believed in Jesus and gained eternal life.
Salvation is a gift from God — it can’t be earned or received by good deeds but by believing in Jesus. And we can know that “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).
5. I Am Saved Through Repentance and Forgiveness
God’s love is evident. Repenting of sin brings instant forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 assures, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God immediately forgave David’s sins of adultery and murder when he asked. David wrote in Psalm 51: 7, “Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” And God did.
With repentance, we turn to God, and “your sins are wiped out” (Acts 3:19), giving the affirmation I’m right with God. “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1).
6. I Am Saved as I Walk with the Holy Spirit
As we “walk by the Spirit,” we will “not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). As we do, we know we are a child of God. Growing in God’s Word, repenting, and living to honor God with the Holy Spirit’s help, assures we are saved.
We keep in step with the Spirit, loving God more each day by obeying His commands (John 14:15). The old sinful nature is transformed into a spiritual being as we walk with the Holy Spirit within.
Confidence of salvation grows as God’s Word confirms, God’s love shows me, and the Holy Spirit dwells in me.
Receiving God’s gift of grace through faith is guaranteed as we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, receive forgiveness, and partner with the Holy Spirit.
Then, we are confident in knowing we are saved. When the doubts come, we can know “nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
For further reading:
Is it True Once Saved Always Saved?
Does God Want All People to Be Saved?
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