How Do You Know You Believe?

Introduction

Our sermon series on challenging our salvation has now begun, and I want to encourage each of you to do just that. Now, this sermon series is NOT to throw doubt upon your claim of salvation, or even to cause you to doubt your own salvation. Rather, this sermon series is to cause you to look at your own salvation with a critical eye and be honest with yourself, and with God. If we take the Bible seriously and truly believes what it tells us, do you realize that the vast majority of self-proclaiming Christians are actually lost? Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew 7:13-14 that the way to destruction is wide and the way to life is narrow and few will tread it. Then, later in the same chapter Jesus says in verse 21-23 that many who come to Him and say Lord Lord He will say “depart from me I never knew you”. I want to prevent this fate for as many people as I can, so I want you all to take a serious look at your salvation. The reason I say that is there is a false sense of security in the modern American church. This false sense of security stems from many factors, but the main factor is the doctrine of security and the doctrine of assurance being blended together then taken out of context. The way this happens, and you’ve all heard me talk about this before, but the way this happens is when somebody says the sinner’s prayer then is led to believe that just because they said one prayer one time in their life then they are saved and have nothing else to worry about for the rest of their life. Then on Monday morning they go right back to business as normal, and there is no inward or outward change in their life. I believe many of these people are indeed lost, and it breaks my heart. Today we will look at testing ourselves in our faith, and as we get started I want to let you know there is nothing wrong with scrutinizing your faith and challenging your salvation, in fact I encourage it. I do not want you to doubt yourself or God, but you should not be afraid to be critical. First, we will discuss some of the things people say when you ask them “How do you know you believe?” Then we learn about testing ourselves in 2 Corinthians 13

What people say when you ask how they know they believe:

“I just know that I know” “I know in my heart of hearts that I am saved” Jeremiah 17:9-10 Mark 7:21

Now, I will freely admit to you that I have been guilty of saying one or both of these myself. With that being said, these are NOT acceptable answers to this question. “I just know” means one of two things 1) you really don’t know and you’re not saved and need to get it right, or 2) you do know that you’re saved, but you are not studied enough in the Word to understand how you should know. The biggest problem with these statements is that you are relying on your own mind and heart to understand your eternity. The 17th chapter of Jeremiah God is admonishing Judah for their sins, and you see here in verses 9-10 He tells us that our hearts are deceitful and wicked, and that God tries us to give us according to our ways. So if you “know in your heart of hearts you are saved” you should certainly test yourself and make sure!

“The preacher told me I’m saved” Mark 2:6-7

This is one of those statements that will make my blood boil. If you believe this, either somebody severely misled you or again, you have not studied enough to learn better. Here’s the thing: neither I, you, or any person in this world has the power or authority to declare somebody is saved. Do you know who knows absolutely, for one hundred percent certainty whether you are saved or not? You, God, and nobody else. These verses in Mark 2 are spoken by the Pharisees in an attempt to “get one over” on Jesus, because they did not want to believe in His deity. The specific statement “Who can forgive sins but God only?” is a direct reference to Isaiah 43 in which God declares He is the only way to salvation for Israel. If you ever see anybody praying for somebody else’s salvation, there is nothing accomplished there. There are certain docrtrinal issues that we as Christians can never give ground on, and this is most definitely one of them.

“I have walked with God” 1 John 2:15-17

This statement is very dangerous, if you say this you’d better be careful. The reason for this is because if you’re claiming that you “have walked with God” you should still be walking with Him, because if not there’s a good chance you never walked with Him. Now, I’m not saying that if you walk away that automatically means you’re lost, I’m saying if you walk away you may need to search out your salvation. I walked away from the faith, I lived in the world and did the things of the world. When I came back to God I had to search my salvation to make sure, and again when I felt the call to the ministry, I had to search my salvation to make sure it wasn’t a conviction of a lost state. If you are living in the world, if you love the things of the world, but claim that you “have walked with God” I tell you to beware of your false sense of security.

Testing Ourselves 2 Corinthians 13:5-10

These six verses come at the end of Paul’s second epistle to the church of Corinth. He is admonishing certain church members, and telling them that when he comes back to Corinth he will punish them as any good believer should. He then refutes claims that he is not in the faith. He tells the church in verse 5 to examine themselves, and they should know whether Christ is in them or not. In verse 6 he appeals to them, reassuring them that he and his cohorts have not failed the test. Verse 7 he encourages them to do good, whether he failed the test or not doesn’t mean they should fail because they have heard the Gospel. In the final bit of this Scripture Paul clarifies that nothing can refute the truth, and that even when he is weak he is glad for their perfection in Christ. These statements are done for edificiation and not to destroy these people. Judgement from a fellow believer should not be to destroy, but should be to edify your brothers and sisters in Christ in His salvation.

Conlcusion

Like Paul, I do not challenge you to test your own salvation to admonish you, or to beat you down, or to berate you; but to encourage you, and to give you a true sense of security and assurance in your salvation. It is my prayer that if you are not saved, that you will come to know the Lord, and that if you are saved that this sermon will give you security in the Lord and assurance that God has restored you and saved you.