how do we know we are really saved

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE ARE REALLY SAVED?

(JOHN 3:16)Says- " For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have a everlasting life".

There are two things that we need to note here. One is that we must be born again. The other is that the son of man must be lifted up. They are related. It takes the Death of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ--He must be lifted up. Since He has been lifted up, since He bore our penalty, the Spirit of God can regenerate us. And we must be born again- that is the only way God can receive us.

The Motivation for all of this is that God so loved the world. God never saved the world by Love, which is the Mistaken Thinking of today. It does not say that God's Love saved the world, because the Love of God could never save a Sinner. God does not save by Love. God saves by Grace through Faith! " For by Grace are ye saved through Faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God: Not of Works, lest any man should boast"(Ep. 2:8-9). Now, how does God save? God saves by Grace through Faith. And Faith is a Gift of God to us. And because our Faith is a total Gift from God, therefore, it cannot be earned.

(Heb.11:1) Says- " Now Faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen".

God has two ways in which men can come to Him today. The first is that you can come to Him by works. Yes, if you can present perfection in your works, God will accept you-but so far nobody has been able to make it. Adam did not, and no one since has ever been able to do it. Abraham did not, and David did not, and Daniel did not. None of them made it by being perfect. Therefore, this is not a satisfactory way to come to God, but many people are coming unsteadily along that futile route.

The only other way to come to God is to come by Faith. Many people do not find Faith a very satisfactory way either and feel like the little girl who was asked to define Faith. She said, " Well, Faith is believing what you know is not so". That is what Faith means to many. They think it is a leap in the dark, an uncertainty, or some sort of a gamble. If that is what it means to you, then you do not have Faith, because " Faith is the Substance of things hope for and the Evidence of thing not seen", which means Faith rest on a foundation.

Doctor A. T. Robertson translates Substance as " Title Deed". What is the Title Deed? What is the Substance ? Substance is the Word of God. If your Faith does not rest upon the Word of God, it is not a Biblical Faith at all. It has to rest upon what God says. Actually, it means to believe God with all your Heart.

The question is whether you believe God or not. Don't come up with the " I have got intellectual problems" excuse, because that won't work. The thing that keeps man from the Word of God is Sin. It is Sin in your life that keeps you from coming to God. It is the Heart that needs to believe. " Your "HEART" means your Total Personality, Your Entire Being. It is the Heart that " believeth unto righteousness" (Rom. 10:10). When you are ready to give up your Sin, the Holy Spirit will make real to you the Word of God.

The Bible said in (Rom.5;12)- "Wherefore, as by one man Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin; and so Death passed upon all Men, for that all have Sinned ".We need to understand that the Sin we are talking about is the Sin of Adam, that first Sin of Adam- not his second one or third one but his first Sin of Disobedience in the garden of Eden, which brought death upon all of his offspring.

We are all Sinners in four different ways.

(1.) We are Sinners because we commit acts of Sin.

(2.) We are Sinners by nature ( Sin does not make us Sinners, but we sin because we have that nature )

(3.) We are in the state of Sin. God has declared the entire Human Family under Sin.

(4.) Finally, we are all Sinners by Imputation. That is, Adam acted for the Human Race because he was the head of it.

Furthermore, the Bible said in (1 Cor.2-14) - " But the natural men receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned. " Then , ( Rom. 5:12) says- " Wherefore, as by one men Sin entered into the world, and death by Sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have

Sinned. Then , (Rom. 3:10-12) says- As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth , there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one".

In relation to the flesh and the Spirit- Galatian (5:16-26) says- "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit ,you are not under the law.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: In mortality, Impurity, Sensuality, Idolatry, Sorcery, Enmities, Stripe, Jealousy , Outburst of Anger, Disputes, Dissentions, Factions, Envying, Drunkenness, Carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you , Just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such thing will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self Control- against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another , envying one another". NASB EDITION.

We know that we are really saved when we believe, with Our Heart, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our "HEART" means Our Total Personality . Our Entire Being. When we truly believe, with all our Heart, in Jesus Christ ,then, we begin to live and walk by the Holy Spirit. We begin to live and walk according to the will of God and not according to our own will. We do not do what we want to do anymore but only what God wants us to do. We begin to confess our Sins everyday, as soon as they are committed, without delay. We begin to satisfy God and not ourselves. We begin to love God and our neighbor.

When one of the scribes came and asked Jesus, which is the first commandment of all? Then Jesus answered him- in ( Mark 12:29-31) which says-" And Jesus answered him, the first of all the Commandments is, HEAR, OH ISRAEL; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Mind, and with all thy Strength: This is the first Commandment . And the second is like, namely this, thou shall love thy Neighbor as Thyself. There is none other Commandment greater than these".

Therefore, our Standard Gauge to know that we are really saved is when we are truly loving our God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Neighbor. And whenever we show our love to our Neighbor, the Holy Spirit is always filling us. Also, whenever we show our love to our Neighbor, other People will see Jesus Christ through us, because Jesus is in us. We cannot really love our Neighbor without Jesus living in us, and without the filling of the Holy Spirit in us. This is how we know that we are really saved.

Faith must be understood in order to know that we are really saved.

(1.) " Now Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for," ( Heb. 11:1a)

(2.) " The EVIDENCE of things not seen " ( Heb. 11:1b)

(1.) What is the SUBSTANCE? The SUBSTANCE is "THE WORD OF GOD". Therefore, Faith is "THE WORD OF GOD" that we hope for,-to believe with our Heart.

(2.) What is the EVIDENCE? The EVIDENCE is "the Result of Obeying the Word of God" which is the things not seen to us before our Salvation but seen to us after our Salvation. This is how we know that we are really saved, because the Holy Spirit will always Fill us whenever we are Obedient to the Word of God. This is how we know that we have a Genuine Faith.

Written by Osmundo S. Sabado

Edited by Orman L. Sabado