So many professing Christians are living day to day, doubting whether they are really saved. I do not look with disdain on these people, rather I feel with them because I know exactly how they feel. For years I walked in those exact footsteps.
For a long time I struggled with fears and doubts, that tied in nicely with the sin in my life. I cried out to God night after night wanting that assurance, but it wouldn't come. I fasted, read my bible a lot, witnessed, but assurance wouldn't come. I called out to God and accused him of not keeping His end of the bargain. I mean, God had said in His word...
1John 5:13 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.
He said, "That Ye MAY KNOW", and I wanted to know. My problem was that I left out the, "believe" part. I was not content with just, "being Christian", and following a religious routine. If I could not know God, and not know I was saved, then to me it wasn't worth it. Just another empty religion. So, I didn't know what else to do but to continue seeking God. I knew that if I knew God and loved Him, then I would know. If God and I were on the same team, and I knew it, them everything would be OK. It never occured to me that God just wanted me to believe, and if I would believe, then I would naturally be sure. What did I do? Just sought Him harder. I fasted and prayed, trying to feel something or experience something so I could know.
I hope you all see the futility in what I was doing. I was begging God for assurance, trying to have an experience, when that was never the route that God had designed for us in His book. I admit, if a person doesn't know any better, then that is the safest route to go, instead of growing comfortable in that state of unbelief. FOR A WHILE I DID START THINKING THAT I MUST BE SAVED, BECAUSE I TRIED MY BEST, AND GOD COULDN'T ASK MORE THEN THAT. (It makes me chuckle at the stupidity)
God never told us to pray for salvation. God never told us to beg and cry for forgiveness, in order to be saved. God never told us to fast in order to get right with Him. He never told us to work really hard and prove to ourselves that we are indeed saved. Here I was trying to make up my own salvation, trying to get right with God. We can't get right with God. That's right, we can not get right with God by doing something. God saves people who believe the gospel, not people who are trying to do their best. God saves people who believe and are trusting that what Jesus did on the cross is enough to get us saved and into heaven. Again, God does not save people who ask to be saved. He saves people who believe the gospel. There is no working in that. There is nothing for you to do or can do. We are utterly helpless to do anything, except believe that it has all been done for us, by a wonderful Savior who died on a cross. You believe that and you are saved.
So, how can you know? You know, because you are fully persuaded that your life is Jesus. You are sure that Jesus died for you personally. A person that is doubting their salvation, has put their faith or trust in the wrong thing. For example, a person might put their faith on their confession and doubt that they really meant it. Or a person might be believing in an experience they had one night at a revival meeting, and not in Jesus. Some people put their faith in their modest clothing, and not in Jesus. Or a person might be putting their faith in their prayers or their fasting, like I did, and not in Jesus. If a person is believing with all their heart in Jesus and knows that their life is hid with Christ, in God, their is absolutely no need ever to doubt.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life,...
God says in His book, that we are part of Jesus's body (flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. Eph 5:30). How could we be unsure if our very life is in Jesus? Could Jesus be unsaved? Then how could we be? The only condition that God has placed on us, is that we believe it. There is therefore no bragging. Some folks think you are bragging if your sure of your salvation. How can you brag about something that you didn't do? Jesus did it all. He died and shed His blood on that tree for us, and paid the debt owe by us, to God. We had nothing to do with the actual process which happened over 2000 yrs ago. It was settled even before we were born. The payment for our sin was paid a long time ago. All that is left is for us to believe this good news. When Jesus cried out on the cross, "It is finished", it was finished indeed. Too add to His finished work and free gift, would be a slap in the face to Him. All God requires from us is to reckon the payment made and rest in that finished work of Christ. How can you be sure? Just give up on yourself and believe. When you believe, you will know and be saved as a result.
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