Why do we struggle with this question? For one thing our conscience continues to accuse us that we are unworthy and that a sinful fleshly nature still resides within! Jesus commented:
· Luke 17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”
Consequently, any thoughts that we are worthy of God are pure self-delusion (Phil. 3:7-9). Therefore, we can only find peace in the truth that God loves us beyond anything we can imagine (Ephesians 3:19).
The more God worked in my life, the more my unworthiness tormented me. However, I now have a firm understanding that these painful self-revelations serve to remind me that He alone is worthy, and this makes me grateful!
How then do we know we are saved especially as the accuser comes knocking and covers us with his accusations? Here are some tests that we can apply. For the unbeliever, the things of God are foolishness:
· 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
· 1 John 2:22–23 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
· Romans 1:19–20 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Our Assurance Depends on the Scriptural promises of God. The unbeliever doesn’t care about something in which he doesn’t trust:
· Romans 10:12–13 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This means that if we are saved, we have come to believe in the Jesus of the Bible. We can also assure ourselves that believers want the truth and not the darkness of the lie as does the unbeliever:
· John 3:19–20 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
The believer wants to believe in the truth of God and not the darkness of self-deception:
· Matthew 7:7–8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
If we care about the truth, we will abide in His Word and not what feels good to us:
· 1 John 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us [apostles]; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
· 2 John 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
If we are saved, we will mine the Bible in order to know God. The unbeliever doesn’t care about abiding in the Word of God but what comforts us. However, we might feel that “It’s so hard for me to spend time in the Word.” However, Christ reaches down to where we are and is willing to accept our commitment to seek God to enable us to spend quality time in His Word:
· 2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything [of spiritual value] as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.
· Psalm 37:5–7 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…
Believers Care about Obedient:
· 1 John 2:3–6 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Our “walk” will inevitably fall far short. However, we can be sure that forgiveness is always available (1 John 1:8-9):
· 2 Corinthians 8:12 (NLT) Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly.[intentionally] And give according to what you have [your limited ability], not what you don’t have.
The unbeliever has hardened himself to the truth and is spiritually blind, but the believer has discernment:
· 1 Corinthians 2:14–15 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
· 2 Corinthians 3:14–18 But their [Israel’s] minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory [How?] of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Unbelievers love sin. The believers may be attracted to sin, but they flee from it:
· 1 John 2:15–16 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (Is sin a temptation to the believer?)
· 1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. (Gradual growth?)
· 1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
The unbeliever refuses to regard Christ as #1:
· Matthew 10:37–38 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Step by Step? Supernatural Gifts?)
Believers are Repentant:
· Luke 24:46–47 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Where there is no repentance, there is no faith, since faith and repentance are inseparable. While a repentance is a turning away from the old life, faith is a turning to the new in Christ.
· 2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Unbelievers love the darkness of Self-Deception and self-exaltation, while believers are humbled to face their sins:
· 1 Peter 5:5–6 …Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
Knowing the Love of God is Key to Assurance:
· Romans 5:8–10 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
· Isaiah 43:1–2,4 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you…
It's about our inmost decisions and commitments: Believers are committed to following Jesus: Romans 8:5–6 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
As we grow in the knowledge of God, the assurance that we are saved also grows. Interestingly, Scripture never mentions the practice of supernatural gifts as a way to know that we are saved, perhaps because they would fade away in time.
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