I’ve spoken to people who’ve accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior but they’re still unsure if they’re really saved or not because they don’t feel any different physically. Some people believe they’re saved but they feel unworthy of being saved and fear they won’t be able to hold onto their salvation if they continue to commit sins. We’re looking at salvation from a human perspective instead of how God sees it. God is good and God is great. Keep that in mind when thinking about God. God is inclusive and his arms are open wide to welcome us into heaven. After all, God has a plan to save us and not condemn us. God does not throw up roadblocks to keep us out of heaven. It’s just the opposite. God would like nothing better than to have all his children join him in heaven. That’s why God has made our salvation as easy as possible. So easy that some people think there must be a catch, but there isn’t. Salvation is a gift of God and not contingent on how we feel about it.
John 10:28 – (Jesus speaking) – And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:29 – (Jesus speaking) – My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Ephesians 1:13 – In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
1 John 2:25 – And this is the promise that He has promised us-eternal life.
Our God is a God of mercy but also justice. God wants us with him in heaven but we must make the choice of our own free will. Salvation isn’t about us, it’s about the promises of God. Salvation is a work of God and he’ll handle all the details. God gives us the precious gift of eternal life for his eternal glory. Salvation means eternal life and once something is made eternal by an act of God it cannot then be undone and made “not eternal”. Nobody else could do it and God won’t do it. That would make God a liar and the Word of God untrue. God is ever faithful and will always fulfill his word. If that were not the case then God wouldn’t be God and we’d still be in our sins and have no hope of eternal life. If our salvation is not forever then the Christian faith becomes null and void. Christianity rests on the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of Christ rests on eternal life being permanent when given. Once saved, always saved; otherwise Jesus died in vain.
John 3:18 – (Jesus speaking) – He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 6:40 – (Jesus speaking) – And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:37 – (Jesus speaking) – All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
Hebrews 7:25 – Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those that come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
1 John 5:13 – These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
It’s natural for us to think we are not worthy of salvation; because we aren’t. None of us deserve salvation. Every human being is born with a sin nature from Adam and because of that we all continue to sin the rest of our lives. We can sin less but we can’t stop sinning altogether. Salvation is not about us, it’s about God and his love, mercy and grace toward man, his special creation. We see ourselves and our current sinful state before a holy God and feel we are totally unworthy which is understandable. Because of the vast gulf between a holy God and our sinful state we can’t imagine what God could possibly see in us to make us worth saving. But God made us and to him we’re priceless. God sees us spiritually; how we’ll be in heaven where we’ll be the sinless, glorified sons of God that he has ordained. Whatever God purposes God already sees as a fact because God’s will always comes to pass.
1 Peter 1:3-5 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Romans 8:38-39 – For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 13:5 – I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Ephesians 1:4-5 – Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Galatians 4:4-5 – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
You’re saved because God says you are in his Word. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about what Scripture says on this matter. There are no exceptions. God says what he means and means what he says. God cannot lie and God cannot be unfaithful to his Word. Relax. Trust in God. If you were sincere when you prayed the sinner’s prayer to God you’re saved unto eternal life. That’s it, end of story. You won’t feel any different physically but spiritually you’re a new person because God says you are. When God saves someone unto eternal life he gives that person’s new spirit to his Son Jesus as his own possession and the gift is irrevocable. Would God glorify himself and Jesus by giving our spirit to his Son only to take it back later? I don’t think so. God never changes his mind and God never makes mistakes.
Romans 8:1 – There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Galatians 6:7 – Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
In death the soul separates from the body, but believers can never be separated from God. Once you’re saved you’ll always be a child of God. That doesn’t mean we’re free to sin without recourse. We will always be accountable to Jesus for our sins. If we sin persistently God will discipline us like any parent would do for his child. God could spank us in a number of ways and the punishment gets progressively stronger to fit the sin. We could suffer financial loss. We could suffer material loss. We could lose our effective service to God and our fellowship with God could be severed. We could suffer illness. In the worst case scenario, we could suffer physical death where God decides to bring us home before our sins become any more egregious. In all these cases we could potentially lose our reward but our position in heaven as sons of God is safe and secure. Eternal life is ours forever.
2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
1 John 3:1 – Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
1 John 5:11 – And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
1 Corinthians 4:15 – For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Romans 11:29 – For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.