Am I Saved?

This Bible study/post was originally written for Precious at www.preciousthoughts.org

She sent an email on this study and after studying the Bible&sending my reply to her, I decided to put it up on today’s Bible study.

I didn’t realize how serious this topic is till I read a post on the reason why some people actually just relapse into being atheists.

I believe that a lot of people struggle with thoughts of whether they are saved or not even after they have given their lives to Christ and it is my prayer that this Bible study can help someone out there just like it helped me.

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I’ve always said that I don’t have a particular salvation story.
Hah! Shocker? 🙂
I must have given my life to Jesus at least 3times in my life. The second time was my real encounter but I was filled with doubt after that. I had the joy that came from the spirit, I had a ravenous hunger to read the word and know God and I actually spoke in tongues too but still I was filled with doubts. Was I really saved?
Moreso, I had gone back to a terrible sin at the time…mogbe!!! My mind said I was definitely not saved! Which born again Christian does that? I fell again and again and again and I struggled a lot with knowing whether I was saved for real or just fooling myself. My past sometimes came banging on the door of my mind and sometimes, my silly present banged on the door too. Did I continually have to ask God time and time again into my heart? Does one sin mean that God has left me stranded? Am I saved or am I not saved??

On a particular day that I had fallen again…I was feeling guilty, I was feeling down, I wanted to punish myself by not going to church, not doing my quiet time. Anything at all, just to let God know that I was sorry but I knew better. I knew that there were ways satan uses our sin against us, he uses it to push us away from God in the name of guilt and retribution… So I resolved not to let satan win and still I went to church but I also wanted to desperately punish myself for falling in sin so I didn’t lift holy hands in worship to God, holy ke? Sinful me? I didn’t want to pray… but the atmosphere in church was full of the Spirit and as I knelt down to pray despite my judgment, all the Spirit was saying to me was “once you ask me for forgiveness, it is done, what you really need to do is forgive yourself, forgive yourself.”
I wept and wept, I was bent on punishing myself and repenting all over again, probably ask to be saved again…
But all He said was ask me for forgiveness and forgive yourself Frances…
So that incident at Church + my string of being 3times born again and Precious’s mail led me to really study on being saved.
Does God think that we have to be saved over and over and over again? Or are we saved once and for all?
When I started studying on this, as usual, I asked the Holy Spirit for help and He led me to 2Corinthians 5…

 

But before we start this, I have to ask you to please stick with me along with your Bibles, it was a bit difficult to follow the trail the Holy Spirit led me on but I will try to make it coherent to you as you read, just please concentrate, this will be a long read but worth it…

So 2Corinthians 5:17 says “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person, the old life is gone, a new life has begun”.

 
I read that and I was asking, how do I know that I belong to Christ Jesus? Is it by my righteousness?

Now, let’s pause for a bit, I was led to study righteousness in Christ on one of those my episodes of thinking I wasn’t saved because I had sinned. I started wondering, am I still righteous?
If I am righteous in my works, does that mean that I am saved?
The Bible says in Romans 3 that we are all sinners, no one is righteous but then Abraham was counted righteous by God, how???
Romans 4:3 “For the scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith”.

 
*Please you will have to study Romans 3&4 for yourself though.*

 
Romans 3:22-29 explains and makes it clearer that we are only made righteous by God through Jesus Christ when we believe that Jesus sacrificed His life for us.
And I love Romans 3:27, it makes it super clear that I am not righteous/unrighteous in God because I did anything to deserve it, it is simply based on my faith! (Romans 4:5)
Now there’s a disclaimer though, that we are made righteous by faith doesn’t mean that we should fall into sin as we like but faith in our righteousness itself makes us to truly fulfill the law so as not to sin.(Romans 3:31)

 
Now, what am I trying to pass across? Whether I sin or not sin or fall or not fall, does not say for certain that I am saved or not.

 
2Cor 5:21 – “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

 
So does anyone see anything reoccurring here? What makes me saved then if it’s not by my righteous works?
The answer is already imbeded in that Romans 3&4 passage… I am only saved when I BELIEVE in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8&9 “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you don’t take credit for this, it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it”

 

So it should have been pretty simple to me then how I could have known that I was saved… just simply the fact that I “BELIEVED”.

 

But just believing comes with its attendant questions doesn’t it?
We still ask, what about when I sin even after I have believed and given my life to God, does that mean that I have to be resaved?
Hah! Just whip out your Bibles and study this carefully along with me.

 
Back to 2Corinthians 5.
2cor 5 starts by talking about how we who are saved have an eternal body made for us by God himself in heaven. How we who live in earthly bodies want to be rid of them so we can put on our heavenly bodies…

Now, you should know that only those who are saved can pass through the pearly gates so the question again is, I have believed but how do I INDEED know that I am saved? How do I know that God has made me an eternal body too?

 
One answer…

 

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Now, believe me when I say this, I would have loved, really loved to post all the study here because I do not want to take away anything from this message, but it is really long and I do not want to bore anyone as I feel that this is one study that should sink into us all.

 

My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will indeed help us to understand the message He is trying to pass across to us through this study in Jesus Name, amen.

 

I would love to hear from you as usual. Follow the trail we have been on till this point and tell us what you think, along with asking the Holy Spirit to help you in this study ofcourse.

And please, what do you think? Should I post the concluding part of this study today, tomorrow or take it over to next week? It’s your choice, please leave a comment below.

 

As always, pretty pretty please, get into the word for yourselves, that’s the essence of our online Bible Study here on this blog.

 

I love you all for real.

Frances.

 

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