How To Know That You Are Saved

1st John 3:20, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

What a precious Scripture! I am listening to a wonderful sermon right now called, “John The Baptist—The Doubter” by Pastor Jack Hyles. Toward the end of the sermon Brother Hyles quotes our text passage from 1st John 3:20. This verse means that if you feel that you are not saved, God knows that you are saved if you meet the following FOUR conditions, which Dr. Hyles outlines in this sermon. When you remember trusting Christ:

1. Did you know you were a sinner?
2. Did you know you could not save yourself, and that you were lost without Christ?
3. Did you know that Jesus took your sins off you and placed them on Himself, and Christ died paying the penalty completely for your sins?
4. Did you trust Jesus as your substitute and your sacrifice?

When we experience doubts, we should go over our testimony...

Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

They overcame by the word of their testimony.

Every Christian believer experiences doubts at times. ...

1st Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

For many years after I got saved at age 13 I doubted. The reason why I doubted was simply because I didn't understand how salvation fully worked. Preachers were mostly to blame, because they all led me to pray a Sinner's Prayer, which confused me concerning the Gospel. Praying to be saved is unbiblical. Jesus said in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” You can believe on Christ without praying.

The first thing to do when you doubt God's gift of salvation is to realize that you are not alone. Everyone doubts their salvation at some point in their Christian life. I sure have. Dr. Hyles admits that he did too. And so did Dr. John R. Rice admit to doubting God's salvation at times.

The second thing to do is go over your salvation testimony in your mind. Did you know you were a sinner? But you say, “I cannot remember if I knew I was a sinner years ago.” Dear reader, the important thing is do you know it now? Do you know that you're a sinner? Do you know that Jesus came to earth as the virgin born only begotten Son of God? Do you believe that He died in your place on the cross 2,000 years ago? Do you believe that Jesus was buried but then resurrected three days later? If this is your only hope for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, then you are saved. This is “the gospel”:

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

I don't know I'm saved because I was there when it happened, or because I got happy or tingle, or because I felt a burden roll away. I know I am saved because God the Father said I am a sinner, and that sinners are lost and go to Hell forever. I know I am saved because God said He made a way of escape through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus. God the Father says in His written Word that Jesus died on a cross to pay my debt of sin, and that He was buried, and then three days later He physically ressurected from the dead. God and that if I trust Christ He will save me. Anything less or more is a counterfeit plan of salvation.

Do you believe the Gospel (i.e., the Good News, Glad Tidings) dear reader? Are you completely resting in Christ's finished redemptive work (Hebrews 4:10-11)? I didn't ask if you've turned from your sinful bad habits. I didn't ask if you've surrendered “all” to Christ. I didn't ask if you walked down a church aisle. I didn't ask if you've prayed a sinner's prayer. I didn't ask if you've joined a church. I didn't ask if you've been water baptized. I didn't ask if you've kept the sacraments. I asked if you are completely resting in the finished redemptive work of Christ? Have you been born again?

I have met professed Christians who still doubt no matter what I show them from the Bible. I have shared every salvation sermon, quote, book and Bible verse I can think off with some people, but they still refuse to believe they are saved. For those people I would show you 1st John 3:20, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” Unless you are calling a liar, then you must admit that He saves those who trust in the Good News of Jesus crucified, buried and risen from the dead.

Written by God's grace, I encourage you to read my helpful 42 chapter book, “SALVATION.” I re-edited my book in 2016, added 6 additional chapters, and put it in .pdf format. Enjoy!

It is possible to KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are saved. Jesus told us in Luke 20:20b, “rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” You could not rejoice that your name is written in Heaven, unless you CAN have the 100% assurance you are saved. 1st John 5:13 says we can KNOW we are saved. As I mentioned earlier, I doubted God's free gift of salvation for many years after I got saved. I made the mistake of focusing upon the sinner's prayer. Since I couldn't remember years later what my frame of mind was when I got saved, I worried a lot. I cried actual tears on umpteen occasions.

To be honest dear reader, I do not know the day when I was saved. In fact, I cannot nail down the year! I think, to the best of my recollection, that I had just turned 13 a few months before I got saved in 1980. I do remember the place in church. I was sitting in a pew. It was a Baptist church on a Sunday morning. For the first time in my life I felt Holy Spirit conviction as a lost sinner, and that morning I called out to God silently in my soul and asked Jesus to save me. From that day until present, I have felt the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit in my soul, like a light switch that was turned on. Before I got saved, there is only a blank in my mind.

If this article and my book hasn't helped you dear friend to settle the matter of the assurance of your salvation, I welcome you to contact me at my ministry email. I have lots of resources, including books and sermons to help you. Here is a very helpful book by Michael P. Bowen titled, “I Never Knew You,” which book I cherish. This book is a faithful defense of the free grace Gospel. It is tragic that a counterfeit plan of salvation is being preached from nearly every pulpit today.

When I attended the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam in 2013-2015, they preached the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. Marty Herron was their incompetent senior pastor at the time, who ultimately banned me from attending their corrupt church. In hindsight they did me a favor, lest I be corrupted by their perverted gospel.

While I attended Harvest, although I hadn't told them about my website ministry, they found it. One of their deacons approached me after church one Sunday evening and he asked me how to know he was saved. I was delighted to share with him some of the helpful truths from my book on Salvation, for which he said, “Why don't they teach things like that from the pulpit.” I told him it is because their pastors don't know the pain of not knowing you are saved, but I do. I do. For many years I wept, worried and wallowed in misery not knowing that I was saved certain. You can know dear friend, and I encourage you not to rest until you settle it.

I used to feel scared going down into our basement in Chicago. It was pitch black! We had one of those ceiling light bulbs with a pull string. In my fear I used to swing my arm wildly in desperation feeling in the dark for the light string. I would unintentionally hit the string and it would move around so that it took me longer to find it. So I quickly learned to go slow, so as to not hit the string. I went slow so that I could find the string sooner and get that light on.

Do you know why I was afraid? It is because I didn't know what might be in the dark. We fear things that we don't understand. God and the Bible are frightening to those who do not understand. That is why I started this blog ministry dear reader back in 2020, so that I could educate and feed Jesus' sheep concerning spiritual truths. And so that I could preach the “Gospel of Peace“” (Romans 10:15) to lead lost sinners to find peace with God the Father through faith in His only begotten Son. Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

“Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but the time is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more than all the kingdoms of the world.” —Pastor Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899)

“Faith cannot be called the 'condition' of receiving, for it is the 'receiving' itself; Christ holds out, and believers receive.” —Jonathan Edwards

“There is nothing in God's universe that is so utterly useless as a merely formal Christian.” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Without Christ you have a hopeless end; with Christ you have an endless hope. There is nothing standing in the records of eternity against any soul that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. All you need to do to be saved is to just believe Jesus did it all for you. Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”