Suppose a person comes to saving faith in Christ, stepped across the line, and said “yes” to God’s offer of eternal life, how can he/she be sure of their salvation?

Suppose they are haunted by doubts? What if I haven’t “believed” enough? Or “repented” enough? Or, have I missed something critical theologically? The fears abound.

So, let’s start with a glance back at our previous essays in this series:

How Far You Have Come

This essay is part of a salvation series that has covered the following stipulations as prerequisites for anyone who wishes to come to God and be saved, according to the gospel of Christ:

• I am a sinner and would never qualify for heaven on my own.
• I am sorry for my sins, and I want to be clean and whole.
• I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God — fully God and fully Man.
• I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, as stated in the Bible.
• I believe in the all-sufficiency of Christ’s death on the cross.
• I accept the free gift of eternal life that Jesus purchased for me by His death on the cross.
• I am sincere and want to join God’s eternal family.

So, if I can say that I sincerely agree with the above statements, is it reasonable to assume that God has accepted me into His family? Or is there more to do?

Join a church, be baptized, read the Bible, “be good,” etc. What if I’m still plagued with fears that I might miss something and lose my salvation?

Feelings vs. Facts

The trouble with such doubts and worries is that they all point back to you, the believer. Wrong direction. Our attention must always be away from self and toward our Savior.

That is where all the merit lies. We are decidedly imperfect, He is perfect.

While going to church, getting baptized, reading the Bible, etc. are good things, they have NOTHING to do with your salvation.

Furthermore, occasional doubts and worries are NOT sinful, they are normal as you mature in your faith.

Unbelief, however, is another matter. While doubts normally arise from sincere intellectual inquiry, unbelief is based on willful refusal to believe what God has said in His Word — this is sinful.

Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus

C.H. Mackintosh, the great Bible expositor, wrote that he never achieved assurance of his salvation until he realized this:

“It’s not about Christ’s work in us, that brings peace. That goes on throughout our lives and will not be complete until we get to heaven. It’s all about Christ’s work for us, which is complete and perfect and has already been accepted by God in heaven.”

This illustrates the difference between positional truth and the practical outworkings of that position in a believer’s daily life.

The believer’s position is fixed by God’s declaration at conversion, and the practical outworking of genuine salvation is variable depending upon the active collaboration of the believer with the indwelling Holy Spirit.

To illustrate: The paschal lamb formed the ground of Israel’s peace in the Old Testament dispensation, and the “Lamb of God” (Jesus Christ) is the ground of every believer’s peace now. His death on the cross constitutes the entire procuring value of our salvation — the quality or intensity of our faith is not part of that value. After all, it is theoretically possible to have a lot of faith in the wrong thing (e.g., religious ceremonies, works, etc.) or a little faith in the right thing.

In his book, Romans: Verse-by-Verse, Bible teacher and pastor William R. Newell wrote:

“… it is of imperative importance that we get the great fact quickly and forever fixed in our hearts that God declares men righteous, not by faith as the procuring cause, for the blood of Christ was that; not by faith as the putting forth of a certain faculty innate in man, much less by the keeping of divine commands, however holy and just; but out of reliance upon his own word as true, and on that alone.”

In brief, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it!”

Have you made this your only plea? Have you given up all other notions about how you can save yourself? Have you “deposited your eternal welfare into the hands of Jesus”?

Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote, “There is no spiritual progress to be made until one is convinced that something final was accomplished at the cross in regard to sin … Something has been done concerning every sin that ever has been committed, or that will yet be committed by man, and consequently, every person has been vitally affected by the cross.”

How About You?

Would you like to experience “the rising of the Morning Star” in your heart, as the Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 1:16-20:

“We couldn’t be more sure of what we saw and heard — God’s glory, God’s voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.”

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Click here for a fascinating AI-generated video overview of this essay.