Do you know if you're saved?
Many say that only God knows who will be saved. While that's true in a sense, the Bible clearly tells us what we need to be saved.
Thus, we can also know if we are saved - by the very things that the Bible says is necessary for our salvation, and the fruits of our salvation in Christ.
In this article we'll talk about a few things that we all need to know and evaluate ourselves with so that we can determine if we are truly saved.
Salvation is clear
When we are saved, we will know it. The Lord Jesus Himself said that being born again, which can only happen through the Spirit of God, can be obvious:
"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)
Everyone born of the Spirit will show signs of being born again. Our salvation is very clear; there's no way a person gets saved and does not show any sign of it.
If you're worried about your status of being saved or not, that's a good thing -- because you can evaluate yourself in light of God's word.
Here are a few things that will help you determine if you're saved or not.
1) Faith in Christ
The very first thing that will be seen and heard is a saved person's gratitude to his Saviour. That's right, a saved person will put his faith in Christ and share that faith with others.
John 4 gives us a perfect scenario for this: a Samaritan woman who would come face to face with the Messiah would soon announce to her hometown about Him. Later, the people in the city would declare,
"Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." (see John 4:42)
2) Repentance from sin
Next, those who understand the salvation that Christ brings know that repentance is a key element. We can never be saved without repenting of our sin, the very sin that Christ carried on His body as He suffered and died.
A perfect example of this would be an unnamed man who had the wonderful opportunity to personally admit his sin before Jesus, and receive pardon from Him:
"Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us."
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."" (Luke 23:39-43)
This thief's repentance might not be known to all men, but God knew it.
His repentance was so sincere, he declared himself a sinner who deserved punishment, yet Christ was innocent and did not deserve the death sentence meted on Him.
And His repentance was made complete when he declared Christ as Lord and as having a Kingdom, to where He can take him.
This thief did what was necessary: to admit his sins, repent of them, ask God's forgiveness, and follow Jesus as Lord.
3) A new life
Last but the most obvious sign of all, a saved person will live a new life in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
With this new life comes a desire to love God. This desire to love God, on the other hand, comes with the decision to turn away from worthless things:
"For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries." (1 Peter 4:3)
This new life is also characterized by passion for God's heart, which means a desire to see people being reconciled with God.
"Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
