There is one thing that boggles my mind when it comes to the Christians that make up true, God given, God inspired, trustworthy Christianity as found within the pages of your New Testament, the idea that it is impossible to know if I am saved. While sitting in a recent evangelism class being held in my area I heard the instructor say something that made tremendous sense to me, he said, "I believe that the plague of Christianity in the last few generations is the idea that we cannot know and have confidence in our salvation."
That's absolutely right! Want to know why the church hasn't seen major, visible, growth in the last 50 years? It's not because we haven't been preaching the Gospel, it's not because the society has taken on the mindset of postmodernism or Calvinism or any other false doctrine, it's not even because "my generation" is a bunch of good-for-nuthin' kids with their faces in their iPhones and their Social Security checks in their back pockets (as some have suggested). The reason the church hasn't been able to get a foot forward in this sinful world is because for some strange reason we have taken it upon ourselves to step out of the teachings of the Gospel and start promoting this pipe-dream-Christianity that says the only confidence in one's salvation is how he feels or if he just happens to die right after praying for forgiveness for every sin that he has committed, and he knows every one because of his little red book he keeps in his back pocket to write down when he strays.
The Bible clearly teaches that knowledge of one's own salvation is not only available, it is absolutely necessary for a Christian to walk in Christ (1 John 5:13). Sure, we know that we sin and we should know when we sin (hindsight is 20/20, you know) but that doesn't mean that I am in a constant cycle of saved and unsaved based upon whether or not I have been able to stop and prayer fervently to my Father for forgiveness. Take, for instance, 1 John 1:5-10, if one can read that passage and not have confidence that God is not some spiritual troll waiting for a sinful status update to scroll across His Savedbook so He can relegate us to eternal damnation but is rather looking at our lives knowing the difficulty of living for Him on this earth (cf. Hebres 4:15) and always forgiving us at the moment of our sin if we are His children striving to live faithful lives in Christ (cf. 1 John 1:7).
That's absolutely right! Want to know why the church hasn't seen major, visible, growth in the last 50 years? It's not because we haven't been preaching the Gospel, it's not because the society has taken on the mindset of postmodernism or Calvinism or any other false doctrine, it's not even because "my generation" is a bunch of good-for-nuthin' kids with their faces in their iPhones and their Social Security checks in their back pockets (as some have suggested). The reason the church hasn't been able to get a foot forward in this sinful world is because for some strange reason we have taken it upon ourselves to step out of the teachings of the Gospel and start promoting this pipe-dream-Christianity that says the only confidence in one's salvation is how he feels or if he just happens to die right after praying for forgiveness for every sin that he has committed, and he knows every one because of his little red book he keeps in his back pocket to write down when he strays.
The Bible clearly teaches that knowledge of one's own salvation is not only available, it is absolutely necessary for a Christian to walk in Christ (1 John 5:13). Sure, we know that we sin and we should know when we sin (hindsight is 20/20, you know) but that doesn't mean that I am in a constant cycle of saved and unsaved based upon whether or not I have been able to stop and prayer fervently to my Father for forgiveness. Take, for instance, 1 John 1:5-10, if one can read that passage and not have confidence that God is not some spiritual troll waiting for a sinful status update to scroll across His Savedbook so He can relegate us to eternal damnation but is rather looking at our lives knowing the difficulty of living for Him on this earth (cf. Hebres 4:15) and always forgiving us at the moment of our sin if we are His children striving to live faithful lives in Christ (cf. 1 John 1:7).
| But, is it egotistical to say this? I've had many people over the years tell me that I was being very egotistical in saying that I knew I was saved at the very moment in which I was speaking. Is this true? Was my being confident in my salvation based upon my obedient attitude toward God and His everlasting love toward me, boastful? | "God is not some spiritual troll waiting for a sinful status update to scroll across His Savedbook so He can relegate us to eternal damnation..." |
Don't get me wrong, I believe that there absolutely is a way in which we might be bragging about our salvation to the point that we commit sin. But, let me say this very clearly.
Being saved and knowing it isn't about how I feel or what I think, it's what God's word says and whether or not my life lines up with that word. - That's it!
When we take the wonderful word of our Lord and read, study, understand and apply it to our lives here on this wretched rock we can know assuredly that we have the saving blood of Jesus Christ washing our sins when we fall short. Then and only then will we be able to make headway in our evangelism (especially in America, mind you)!
People today, while a post-modernistic mindset prevails, aren't looking for wishy washy Christians. People want to know that when they listen to us and study with us about Jesus Christ that we are sure of what we are saying and that we actually have accessed that salvation for ourselves. They don't want someone to come to them and say, "I'm not sure if I'm saved and I'm not sure that you will be saved but won't you come and be unsure with me?"
That's why the Lord's body hasn't been able to grow as some other groups have. It's not because we haven't been working! We have! It's because we haven't allowed ourselves to get out of Christianity everything that God has put in it, namely the confidence in our salvation, and people have seen that. So, let's get that confidence through honest evaluation of our lives in light of the Scriptures and then go tell everyone else how they can have that confidence as well!
People today, while a post-modernistic mindset prevails, aren't looking for wishy washy Christians. People want to know that when they listen to us and study with us about Jesus Christ that we are sure of what we are saying and that we actually have accessed that salvation for ourselves. They don't want someone to come to them and say, "I'm not sure if I'm saved and I'm not sure that you will be saved but won't you come and be unsure with me?"
That's why the Lord's body hasn't been able to grow as some other groups have. It's not because we haven't been working! We have! It's because we haven't allowed ourselves to get out of Christianity everything that God has put in it, namely the confidence in our salvation, and people have seen that. So, let's get that confidence through honest evaluation of our lives in light of the Scriptures and then go tell everyone else how they can have that confidence as well!
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