The Bible tells both how to truly be saved and what the result of salvation is.

How to be Saved

The Scriptures tell us there is only one “way’ to be saved when Christ made this statement in the Gospel of John:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

John 14:6 (KJV)

If we place our full faith in Christ and his finished work on the cross to redeem us we will be saved:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Romans 10:9 (KJV)

The Scriptures are clear that there is only way to be saved and that is by placing our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

The results of being saved

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

John 5:24 (KJV)

If we are saved we have literally gone from being under the condemnation of God to being granted eternal life by God.  But it is not simply our eternal destiny that has changed but the Bible tells us that salvation changes who we are in this life as well.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

The Bible says we literally become “a new creature” and in the Gospels Christ calls this being “born again”(John 3:3) when we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

But while our spirit has been awakened in salvation our sin nature remains in our body and it will struggle against the spirit of God for control of our lives.  This is why we are called to renew our minds and our thinking by taking every thought we have captive to Christ and his Word.

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”

II Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)

We need to unlearn what our culture and upbringing have taught us and let God and his Word renew our minds on a daily basis.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. ”

Romans 12:2 (KJV)

How to know you are saved

While there is only one way to be saved – there are many ways that we can confirm that our belief was genuine and many ways to know for sure that we are saved.

Salvation is not something we have to wonder about or doubt about. It is something that we can know for sure as the Apostle John wrote:

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
1 John 5:13 (KJV)

So throughout the years whenever a person at church, family member or in more recent years readers of my blog have emailed with the question “How can I know for sure that I am saved?” I have answered them with the 10 questions that follow.

10 Questions that confirm your salvation

1. Do you believe that there is one God and one mediator between God and men who is Jesus Christ?

2. Do you accept who the Scriptures say Jesus was – that he was not simply a teacher or prophet but that he was the sinless Son of God, God in the flesh?

3. Do you believe you are sinner – that you have broken God’s laws and fail to live up to his righteous standard?

4. Do you believe the God’s justice requires that sin must be punished with eternal damnation?

5. Do you believe that you needed Jesus Christ’s death on the cross to atone for your sins and that there was nothing you could do on your own to appease the justice of God regarding your sin?

6. Do you not not only believe that you needed Jesus Christ’s sacrifice – but have you believed on Christ as YOUR savior? Have you placed your faith and trust in him and personally applied his sacrifice to your life?

7. If you were honest with yourself – can you point to any changes you have made in your life since you believed on Christ? Has your faith changed you? Have your thoughts and habits changed in any way since you trusted in Christ?

8. After your profession of faith did you come to recognize your own sin in ways you did not before your profession of faith?

9. Does sin in your life grieve you?

10. Are there habits or things you continue to fall into that grieve you and that you must take to God regularly in prayer?

If I were to summarize these ten questions into one statement it would be as follows:

“Have you placed your faith and trust in the one true God and his Son Jesus Christ to save you from your sin? Did coming to Christ change your life and cause you to recognize your sin in a way you had not before? Does your sin still grieve you?”

If you can answer all of these questions with a “Yes” than you can know for sure that you have eternal life. But only you know your heart and mind.

What I have found throughout the years is that people often are fearful that they were never truly saved or that they may lose their salvation because of various sins they have continued to struggle with over the years. But what I have told them is – the very fact that you struggle with your sin – that you recognize it and it grieves you and you make an effort not to do it is a prove of genuine salvation in your life.

There are two people I worry about. There are the people who say they have believed but they don’t care about sin. Then there are others who say they have believed and they actually convince themselves they do not sin anymore. I have actually run into people who claimed that since they became a Christian they only “make mistakes” but they don’t really sin. That is hogwash!

But if a person has placed their faith and trust in Christ and his saving work on the cross – and they can honestly look at their post profession of faith life and see changes and difference and a recognition of their own sin on a daily basis that person can know for sure that they have eternal life.

There are three things that will hinder genuine believers from doing all they can to serve Christ with their lives. Blindness to sin, unrepentant sin and fear of losing one’s salvation. I pray that you will do as the Apostle John admonished us and “know that ye have eternal life” today.