Can I Be Sure I'm Saved? (Crucial Questions)

by R.C. Sproul

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

This rare grammatical structure has significance in the Hebrew language. When someone repeats the personal form of address, it suggests and communicates an intimate personal relationship with the person to whom he is speaking.

Jesus is saying that there are many people who profess to be Christians, who use the name of Christ, and who call Him by His exalted title “Lord” but actually are not in the kingdom of God at all.

The Scriptures tell us that the heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9), so it is easy for us, Rome says, to deceive ourselves and to rest our confidence about the state of our souls on mere opinion.

Jesus says that His true brother is the one who does the will of the Father, not one who simply makes a decision to follow Him.

It wasn’t that Judas was genuinely converted and then fell out of grace and was lost; rather, although he was close to Jesus, he was never a converted man. That ought to give us pause as we consider the states of our own souls.

This seed represents a category of people who also hear and receive the Word, but who are overwhelmed by the cares of this world. Like thorns, worldly cares “choke the word.”

Lastly, Jesus says: “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit” (Matt. 13:23a).

Those who are genuinely saved are those who prove themselves to be doers of the Word. When the seed takes root and grows, there is fruit.

Martin Luther, said we are justified by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone.

ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEW: Faith + Works = Justification PROTESTANT VIEW: Faith = Justification + Works

In the Protestant view, works are a consequence, a manifestation of the state of grace we are in; thus, they add nothing to justification.

Some true Christians are not as fruitful as other Christians, but every true believer bears some fruit. If he does not, he’s not a believer. That’s why Jesus says, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16a)—not

Jesus speaks of people who honor Him with their lips while their hearts are far from Him (Matt. 15:8).

“I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12, NKJV).

So if a person thinks he has faith but lacks confidence that Jesus Christ is saving him, does he really have faith at all?

Regeneration, which is that work of God by which we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, is a real work of conversion, and it happens instantly by the work of the Holy Spirit, so that a person is either in that state or not. There is no process of regeneration; it is instantaneous.

We have to determine our theology from the Word of God, not from what we feel.

Peter urges believers to diligence in making their calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:3–11).

“The wicked flee when no one pursues” (Prov. 28:1),

Jesus talked more about hell than He did about heaven,

Jesus asked: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (v. 19).

When God looks at a human action, He asks, “Does this work proceed from a heart that loves Me fully?” Remember Jesus’ commands: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

If we are called to make our election sure, then it follows that we are able to make our election sure. It is possible for us to know whether we are numbered among the elect.

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

So foreknowledge must precede predestination, because God is predestining specific individuals whom He loves and chooses.

In other words, if I’m justified now, I have nothing to worry about—He who has begun a good work in me is going to finish it to the end (Phil. 1:6).

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:1–10, NKJV)

So as we seek assurance, we can know we’re numbered among the elect, because without election, this work of the Holy Ghost could never take place in our souls.

To be born again means to be changed by the supernatural operation of God the Holy Spirit. Understanding this is critical for our assurance of salvation.

When we read Scripture’s teaching on our natural state, we see such descriptions as “bondage to corruption” (Rom. 8:21), “dead in transgressions and sins” (Eph. 2:1), and “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). Historically, the church has understood these statements to mean that the unregenerate person has a moral bent, a bias against God. By nature, the Scriptures tell us, we are at enmity with God, and the word enmity is a description of a hostile attitude. Before we are regenerated, we are disinclined toward the things of God. We have no genuine affection for Christ; there is no love for God in our hearts.

they know there are deficiencies in their affection for Christ, because they know that if they loved Christ perfectly, they would obey Him perfectly. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). So as soon as we disobey one of His commandments, that’s a signal to us that we do not love Him perfectly.

“Is it possible for an unregenerate person to have any true affection for Christ?” My answer is no; affection for Christ is a result of the Spirit’s work. That is what regeneration is all about; that is what the Spirit does in quickening. God the Holy Spirit changes the disposition of our souls and the inclination of our hearts. Before regeneration, we are cold, hostile, or indifferent (which is the worst kind of hostility) to the things of God, having no honest affection for Him, because we are in the flesh, and the flesh does not love the things of God. Love for God is kindled by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, who pours the love of God into our hearts (Rom. 5:5).