How Do You Know If You're Saved?

There is a minimum of truth without which a person cannot besaved. This is the gospel.

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel Ipreached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. Bythis gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you asof first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to theScriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve” (1 Corinthians15:1-5).

Here is the basic truth of the gospel:

1) Who Jesus is—He is the Christ.

2) Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture.

3) He was buried. His burial did two things: It confirmedHis death—He was dead and buried. It confirmed His resurrection.

4) He was raised on the third day according to the Scripture.

This is the truth that saves. Believing any less than thiswill not result in salvation.

It is possible to know that you are saved.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of theSon of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

1 John was written so that you may know that you haveeternal life. Do you want to know? Read the letter twice. Then go through it athird time and mark every occurrence of the word “know.” It will show up withtwo different meanings, but mark them all. Each verse will tell you how you canknow that you have eternal life.

To be continued on Friday.

 

Excerpted from Assurances of Salvation , availableat ccmbooks.org and Amazon.com.

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