NOW THAT I AM SAVED

 by Dr. Hank Lindstrom

     What a wonderful thing it is to know for sure that you are saved!  A young couple recently asked me, "But, how can I know that I am saved?"  This is a good question and one that is asked often.  Every believer needs to have the assurance that he or she is saved.

     I was always led to believe as young person that if I ever was saved I would get a feeling.  Maybe a chill, lightning might strike, or maybe even a neon sign might light up saying, "You are saved."  None of those things ever happened.  The truth is that there is nowhere in the Scripture that tells us to look for a feeling to know that we are saved.  In fact, each time the word "feel" is used in the New Testament, it is used in a negative sense.  Never are we to gain our assurance of salvation through our feelings.  So how do we know when we are saved?

     God has spoken and given us His word concerning the subject.  God says in I John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life."  Notice, God does not say, "hope", "guess", "perhaps", or "maybe".  God says you can "Know that you have eternal life."  I John 5:13 is God's written guarantee to us that we can know that we have eternal life once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.  God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).  If God puts it in writing you can count on it.  Again, if you believe (trust) that Jesus Christ has died for you, then God has written I John 5:13 to you, so that you may know that you have eternal life.  If God says it and you believe it, that should settle it.  "He that believeth not God hath made him a liar (I John 5:10)."

     Once you know that you are saved, then there are a number of things that you ought to do to please the Lord.  These are not things to do to be saved, but things to do in obedience because you are saved.  These things ought to be done daily.

     One of these important activities is to read the Word of God.  The Scriptures commend the believers at Berea because they searched the Scriptures daily.  "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11)."

     Daily prayer is another necessary part of your Christian life.  Psalm 86:3 says, "Be merciful unto me, O Lord for I cry unto thee daily."  In the New Testament we read, "Pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17)."  Daily two-way communication with God is essential for a healthy Christian.  God talks to us through His word and we talk to Him through prayer.

     Praise to the Lord should also be daily.  "I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth (Psalm 34:1)."  Psalm 119:164 says, "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgment."

     Daily fellowship with the Lord and other believers is important.  Spending time with the Lord each day is something every believer ought to do.  "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens (Psalm 123:1)."  The early Christians according to Acts 2:42, "continued stedfastly...in fellowship."  Other believers can encourage and lift you up.

     Daily witnessing.  Each of us as believers should seek to win the lost to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior.  The apostle Paul witnessed daily.  Acts 17:17 says, "Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him."  Jesus said, "Go you into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15)."

     One of the conditions for discipleship (not a condition for salvation) is daily self-denial.  Luke 9:23 says, "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."  Self denial is withholding some things from yourself that you are probably better off without anyway.  Denying self is saying "no" to your desires and doing what the Lord wants you to do.  Maybe you say, "I don't have time to read the Bible", yet you watch several hours of TV per evening.  Self denial would be to say "no" to the TV and "yes" to reading the Bible during that time.

     The believer also needs to be renewed every day by the Lord.  In a sense this is like getting your batteries (spiritually) recharged.  II Corinthians 4:16 says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."  David said, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:  wait, I say, on the Lord (Psalm 27:14)."  We need to be renewed every day and only the Lord can do that.  We need him daily!

     Another area that needs daily attention is given to us in Proverbs 8:24, "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors."  This is a daily alertness to what is going on and what God wishes you to do.  In a sense, it is like being on guard, being alert, sensitive and ready to act for the Lord.  The disciples failed on this point in the garden of Gethsemane.  They fell asleep while the Lord had told them to watch and pray.  The Lord had told them three times there in the garden to watch and pray.  Read Matthew 26:40-46.  "And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, what, could ye not watch with me one hour?"

     Here is a list of daily things that we need to strive to have in our Christian lives.  Make a list of them.  Bible study, prayer, praise, fellowship, witnessing, self-denial, renewing the inward man, daily alertness, and there are others.  Set a goal to include them daily in your Christian Life.  What a difference it will make.