How Can I Know I'm saved? Part 3: I Still Sin!

In the last post I mentioned Godly desires that produce Godly actions. Well, sometimes, we have desires that produce actions that aren't exactly Godly. Very much the opposite, in fact. We sin.

One of the big reasons people doubt whether or not they're saved is because they still have sin in their life. It's a huge problem, and it has kept many awake at night (myself included). Because, if we have been made new, have been given new hearts, new desires, a new will, than it should be reflected in our actions, right? We should be seeing good works, and not sin, right?

That is the main question we'll be answering, and we'll be doing it by looking at a lot of smaller questions.

If I truly am a Christian, why do I still struggle with sin? 
Let's face it: Being a Christian doesn't mean you won't sin. Everyone struggles with sin, and that includes Christians. The Apostle Paul himself struggled with sin after salvation, as he tells us in Romans 7:13-25. We just aren't sinless, and will continue to be that way until we are united with Jesus in heaven. But if Christians still sin, then what's the real difference between a believing sinner and an unbelieving sinner? The unbeliever loves his sin and looks for ways to continue in it, the believer hates his sin and looks for ways to try to stop sinning. The life of an unbeliever is defined by giving in to sin, whereas the life of a believer is defined by fighting against sin, even if that fight is sometimes lost. Nowhere does the Bible say that you can lose or nullify your salvation by sinning. But the Bible does tell us time and time again that God can forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9).

I committed a HUGE sin! How can I still be a Christian?
Some denominations teach that there are "mortal" sins that can cause you to lose your salvation, such as murder or adultery. I deny such teaching, and so does the Bible (but that's another blog post). The truth is, no sin is too great for God to forgive. King David committed both murder and adultery in the Bathsheba incident (2 Samuel 11). But his relationship with God was not severed. Does that mean his sin was okay? Far from it! He was punished for what he did, and most importantly, he still needed to repent of his sin and ask God to forgive him.
No matter how large a sin you have committed, God still loves you and can forgive you. But you must still be repentant.

I have a sinful habit/addiction that I can't seem to break.
Let's get one thing straight: If you've been saved, it doesn't matter how large or how numerous your sins are. No power can separate you from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39), including your sins, which he can forgive you of. However, that doesn't mean that a sinful habit or addiction is 'okay.' It's still a horrible thing, and should be attacked vigorously. With God's help, even the most powerful addictions can be broken (Philippians 4:13). However, there are some habits or addictions that you may never be able to break. The key is that even though you may never break 100% free, you must keep fighting it. Keep hating your sin. Resist it with all you have. Keep asking for God's help. That is the difference between a saved addict and an unsaved addict: The unbeliever gives up and gives in to addiction, but the believer knows that God is helping him, so he keeps on fighting addiction, no matter how many times he may lose.

There are two important things to remember, and the first is this:
Jesus tells us that a tree is known by it's fruit (Matthew 7:16-20). A good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. Paul tells us what good fruit looks like (Galatians 5:22-23). If you are not bearing any of these fruit, but instead continue willfully in sins, whether small or big, many or few, and do not repent of them, then the cold truth is this: You have not been saved.

The second thing to remember is this: for those of us that have been saved, God can forgive any number or size of sins. BUT: God's Grace IS NOT A LICENSE TO SIN.
Paul puts it this way in Romans 6:1-14:

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,  knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

So yes, God can and will forgive us of the sins we commit after we've been saved, but that doesn't mean we're free to do what we want. We should not walk in sins. On the contrary, we should walk "worthy of our calling" to "Make our election sure" (Ephesians 4:1; 2 Peter 1:10).

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.  

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.  

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him (Colossians 3:1-10. I recommend reading the whole chapter)

If you are saved, then no sin you commit can separate you form Christ. You cannot lose your salvation. However, you must continue to battle against sin. No temptation is too strong to resist (1 Corinthians 10:13). We must keep fighting, and praying for God's help. And when we do fall, as sometimes we will, then we must always ask God to forgive us. He can, and He will, no matter what. Then get back up and keep fighting!

But if you're not saved, then you are in dire straights. Whether your sins are little, big, many, or few, they are still sin, and you deserve death and hell as punishment. But that's not the end of the story. God can forgive your sins if only you repent and believe. No matter how horrible a life you've lead, there is hope for you. Repent, believe, and you will be saved!

As we reach the end of this series, you may be examining your life. You may still be uncertain as to whether or not you're saved. Well, if you still aren't sure, then there's no harm in re-dedicating your life to Christ, and there is no better time to do that, than right now.

I hope God has used this series in your life to bring Glory to Him. If you're still usure about some things, or have any questions about salvation or anything else, I am here and willing to listen to you and help you in any way I can. I urge you to take advantage of the comment, forum, or private contact features. God bless.

How Can I know I'm Saved? Part 2 +How Can I Get Saved?

In the last "How Can I Know I'm saved?" post, we listed some sources of false assurance in respect to salvation. Some of my readers may have put their hope in some of the things I listed (I know I used to), and you may now be wondering "If X doesn't mean I'm saved, then how can I tell if I'm saved? Is there any way of knowing?"

You may recall that I believe that you can know whether or not you're saved. You can have assurance of salvation. But you can't just blindly accept my opinion on that, you need some proof. Is it possible to know you are saved? Let's look at what Peter and Paul had to say:

2 Peter 1:10 says:

“Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you”

In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul tells us:

"Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified."

Peter and Paul wouldn't urge us to try to find out whether or not we're saved unless there actually is a way of knowing, and that knowing is important. With that in mind, let's move on to how we can know if we're saved.

The first thing to ask is if you've had an actual salvation experience. Most people can point to a time in their life where they walked the aisle, said the sinner's prayer, or even got baptized. A point where one could say "If I really got saved at any time in my life, it would've been then."

If you've had one of those experiences, but are doubting whether you're saved or not, then what you're really wondering is if your salvation experience was genuine. Did I really become a Christian that time I walked the aisle? Did I really become a Christian when I said that prayer? Am I really saved because of that time I got baptized?

Maybe you already know the answer. Maybe you know that your experience wasn't genuine. Or maybe you never had such an experience to begin with. Maybe you read one of the means of false assurance we talked about and thought "That's me! I'm not saved!"

I have listed below what I believe are the necessary elements of a genuine salvation experience. If you are not saved or not sure, this next part is for you.

1: Recognition of sin. You can't get saved unless there is something to save you from. You must realize and admit, both to yourself and to God, that you are a sinner, and that you have sinned against God. You know what it is you've done, whether something "small" like lying or stealing, or "big" like adultery or murder, you have sinned (Romans 3:23), and you deserve to go to hell for it (Romans 6:23). Recognizing this is the first step.

2: Willingness to repent. So you know that what you've done is wrong. But do you care? Are you sorry? Do you feel remorse for what you've done? A lot of people don't. Some people look back on their sin and think "Yeah, that was wrong... but who cares? It was fun! I'd do it again in a heartbeat!" Your attitude needs to be the opposite of this. The dictionary defines "repent" as "to feel or show that you are sorry for something bad or wrong that you did and that you want to do what is right." This is the attitude you need to have.

3: Submission to Jesus.  You know you've sinned, and you regret your sin. Now you want to make it right, and fix things. But you can't. Only Jesus can. So what's the next step? The Bible has the answer, and it repeats it over and over, time and time again, for our benefit:

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31)

"Whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered" (Joel 2:32)

"...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (Romans 10:9-10)

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

These three elements -- a recognition of your sin, a willingness to repent of your sin, and a submission to Christ as the only one who can take away that sin -- comprise a genuine salvation experience. If you have experienced true salvation, then you are "a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

As a result of being made new, you will have new desires, Godly desires; like an appetite for scripture, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and Godly teaching.
Your desires will be followed by actions. If you've truly been changed on the inside, then it will be manifested on the outside, in the way you act, the way you speak, and the way you treat others. As Jesus says, "The tree is known by its fruit" (Matthew 12:33).

So based on this information, would you say that you are saved? Have you recognized your sin and repented of it? Do you believe in Christ and submit to Him as your Lord and Savior? Are your desires Godly ones, and do you bear good fruit? I hope the answer is yes.

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13)

But if the answer is no, then what are you waiting for? You have everything you need right here. If you haven't had a genuine conversion, then you can have one right now.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Please read the next post, which deals with a very important issue: Sin in the life of a Christian

How can I Know I'm Saved?

I got a bit of feedback on my testimony (both publicly and privately) in regards to false conversions/salvation. Some people have noticed similarities between their conversions and one or more of my false conversions, leading them to ask themselves: "Am I really saved?"

This is likely one of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself. "Am I really, truly, a Christian?" The answer is vital, and it's one you need to know.

Is it possible to know if you're saved or not? Some say that you won't find out until you die, and that there's no way of knowing. My position is that you can know whether you're saved or not, and that finding out is one of the most important things you'll ever do.

But before I talk about assurance of salvation, I want to talk about false assurance. I touched on this slightly in my testimony. Here I am going to list some common sources of false assurance.

"My parents/pastor/friends say I'm a Christian" A lot of people thought I was a Christian when I really wasn't. The truth is, the state of your soul can only be known by two people: You, and God. This is between you and Him. The only people who can see inside your heart are God and yourself, so you two are the only ones who can know your heart's condition. "Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart."
Now if you truly are a Christian, other people should be able to tell by watching you. Your faith should be evident in the way you act and talk. However, this can be faked. I know, because I've done it.

"God has worked in and/or through my life. He wouldn't do that if I weren't saved" Some people say that God "can't use you" unless you're saved, and others conclude that if God has worked in or through their lives, then it must be because they're saved. Sorry, but that's just not true. You don't need to be saved for God to use you. Remember Pharaoh? The Bible is littered with examples of people who were not saved, and yet were used by God in His plan. Just because God is accomplishing good things in or through your life does not mean you are saved.

"I'm a good person; I've never killed anybody." No offense, but you're not a good person. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and that includes you. Sure, you may not have killed somebody, but "He who keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point is guilty of all" (James 2:10). And the wages of sin is death, regardless of how "big" or "little" that sin is.

"I go to church every Sunday and I read my Bible and pray and give money to missions and evangelize and engage atheists in online debates and stand outside abortion clinics and..." This does not make you a Christian. I did all of these things pre-salvation. Sure, these are all very Christian activities, but they do not make you a Christian. Nothing you do makes you a Christian. The actions of God upon your heart are what make you a Christian. The things you do are only a by-product, the evidence of the work Christ has done within you. But as I said before, this can be faked.

There are many sources of false assurance for the false believer, but these were just the more popular ones I've heard (as well as used).

Now, don't get me wrong. If you are a Christian, than your parents/pastor/friends should be able to tell, God should be working in and through your life, you shouldn't murder people, and should go to church and all that other stuff. My point is that you can't be sure of your salvation because of any of those things.

How can you be sure of your salvation? I'll talk about that in the next post.

My Testimony

Today is my rebirthday, meaning that Christ has been my Lord for an entire year. Some may think I've been saved longer than that, but hey, that's what I used to think as well, and you'll see why in a minute. In any case, I promised some friends almost a year ago that I would blog my testimony, but never got around to it (and there are actually some good reasons for that). So today, being my first whole year as a true Christian, I thought it would be fitting to finally post it. So here goes nothing.

They say that every testimony has a central theme to it, a defining and recurring subject which is core to the story. The recurring theme of my testimony is that of false conversion.

Depending on your definition of "saved," I've been saved several times. However, it is my opinion that I was never truly saved during any of my many "conversions." Why would God allow me to go through multiple false conversions? My opinion is that God wanted to make me an example. An example to myself, as well as to others, to show what false conversion looks like, in many of its forms. Why do I think this? Because every one of my false conversions was different.

My first false conversion was when I was really little. I can barely remember it at all, I was so young (probably between 3 and 5). When you're the age I was, you want to be just like your parents and siblings. You try to take over their chores, You walk around in your dad's shoes, you might even play around with your mother's makeup. And that's how my first "conversion" was. I was just doing it to be like my family. We were in the car going somewhere, and my brother, who was two years older than me, was telling me bout Jesus. Well, I ended up "saying the prayer," and thus I was falsely converted for the first time.
I like to call this the "Go with the flow" conversion. Let me tell you, it is no conversion at all. People do it out of peer pressure, or a desire to be like the people around them, to go with the flow. But as soon as the 'flow' changes directions, they change directions too. Luckily, my family never changed direction, so I was still a pretending Christian, but a pretending Christian is still not a Christian.

My second false conversion was what you might call a "crisis conversion." The way it works is during a crisis, when you feel like everything is falling apart, you call on God. But once the crisis has passed, you go right back to living the way you always did. Nothing has changed. This kind of conversion happens all the time and to lots of people, from soldiers on the battlefield, to gangsters on the streets, to folks going through a tough marriage. What was my crisis? Cleaning my room. It may not sound like much of a crisis, but at my young age, it was. I was mad at my parents, mad at my siblings, felt like everyone was against me and that everything was falling apart. So I turned to God. But sure enough, after the "crisis" had passed, I showed no signs of change. Clearly, this conversion was false.

My next "conversion" happened years later, when I was twelve. This time, I was getting what they call "fire insurance." At this point in my life, I had been thinking about hell, and was really afraid of going there. I knew that at any time, Jesus could come back or something bad could happen, and I would die and go to hell. The thought scared me so much, that I got up and went to my parents to "get saved." I was, simply put, a fear convert. This also happens to a lot of people. They hear the shouting of the sign-toting "Christian" on the sidewalk who preaches doom and destruction, they read the words of judgement in the book of revelation, some have nightmares, and some just want to be covered "just in case."
So they "buy the insurance," "put on the parachute," or "come to the front;" they say "the prayer" and maybe even get baptized. But their hearts aren't in it. And neither was mine. We want to reap the benefits of being a Christian without having to live like one. But let me tell you, this is not fire insurance. This is fire assurance.

I was still not saved, but nobody knew it. Three years later some events began to happen which would make it very apparent.

First, my family moved. We moved over 900 miles from our home in Florida to come live in Indiana. Needless to say, I was not happy about this decision. I was angry at my parents, and became exceedingly bitter about the move. Not only did I rebel against my parents' decision, but I rebelled against the will of God. Now this means two things: One, I wasn't a Christian and two: my rebellion was completely and utterly ineffective, because God's Will always wins. And eventually, His will for me would come to fruition, but for now, I was stuck in my sins.

The next thing that happened was that my Grandfather got pancreatic cancer, which practically nobody survives. Our family made two trips to Montana to spend as much time as we could with Grandpa. It was during our second trip, a several-month stay, that my Grandpa died. I was in the room when he passed. It's something I never want to experience again.

My grief for Grandpa's death mixed with my anger from the Indiana move and served to totally crush my spirit. Another result of the move was that I had very few friends, and so I had nobody to turn to (or at least, that I was willing to turn to) for comfort. I felt depressed and friendless, so what did I do? I turned to the internet to cure both. Not a good idea.

I started commenting on blogs and forums and spending time in Chat rooms, and through this I made many new "friends." Let's just say the internet isn't the safest place to immerse yourself, and the bad crowd got me into some bad things. My life became full of secret sins that nobody knew about... except God.

The year or so after Grandpa's death became a bad time for me. The majority of my time was spent laying in bed or on a couch with a computer or my tablet, watching videos, playing games, reading comics, or conversing with my various "friends." During this time, I still maintained my false allegiance to God. I knew he existed, and I claimed to be His child, even defending His existence and goodness in many internet debates. But I wasn't devoted to Him. I didn't live like one of His children. We had no personal relationship.

But all of that began to change around October of last year. My father led a Bible study for the guys in our church out of the book Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle. If you're a young man and haven't read this book, read it now. If you have read it, read it again. It was through my father and this convicting 100 year old book that God worked in me. He showed me my sinful state, revealing to me what I had denied for years: I was not His.

And then today came. November 19th, 2012. I had just finished writing 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month, and I was surfing the blogs of some of my Christian friends (none of whom are associated with the internet 'friends' I mentioned earlier), when I came under great conviction. I got out of my chair, and jumped into bed with my e-reader tablet, and opened up my ebook Bible. I opened randomly to Colossians 3: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God." I realized that I was not seeking those things above, and that my heart was not set on them, which was clear by all of the sin in my life. Thus, I concluded, I had never truly been raised with Christ. With tears in my eyes, I got out of bed and fell on my knees before God.

What did I do? Did I go once more through the "sinner's prayer," ineffective all those other times? No. Salvation isn't something that happens when you decide to recite a few lines. Salvation is something that happens when God opens your eyes, showing you just what kind of person you are and just what kind of state you're in: blind, dead, enslaved to sin. Nobody, when these facts are revealed to him by God, can then decide "I wanna stay this way." And neither could I. God's Grace was irresistible, and the only choice I could then make was to surrender. What exactly I said then is lost to my memory, but I do know that I asked forgiveness of my sins and devoted the entirety of my being to Christ, and meant it for the first time in my life.

Several thing happened. First, I felt the massive load fall off of my shoulders. Something many have described but which I had never felt before during any of my false conversions.

Next, I was overcome with a desire for scripture. I had always tried to make it a habit of mine to read the Bible, but for the first time in my life, it became something I looked forward to.

Many other things happened. I almost completely stopped going to those forums and chat rooms. There is only a small remnant of those internet 'friends' whom I still visit, but my intention is to spread the gospel to them rather than be pulled down by them (though I admit this is really hard). I almost completely lost the great passion I once had for computer games, now only really playing with my siblings now and then, compared to the hours spent daily in pulverizing enemy zombies, robots, aliens, and orcs. The many other destructive, sinful, and lazy habits I had were either defeated by Christ, relegated to a position where they're no longer harmful, or are still being fought against today. Whatever the case, it was made clear that my life had been changed forever by Christ. We have a relationship now. I don't just know about God anymore, I know God personally.

All that happened exactly a year ago. And though I've stumbled and fallen many times, and experienced low spots throughout my Christian walk, I can say with certainty that I am truly saved now and that Christ continues to work within my heart.

But what about you? What's your testimony? How were you converted? Does your story match up with any of my false conversions? I sure hope not. If so, then I pray that God will work in you to bring you to true repentance. If you have no testimony because you have not been converted, falsely or otherwise, then I urge you to repent and believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.