This study © 1999 by David Humpal

Now I think all of us want to enter in the kingdom of God. The Bible teaches there are three things we must do:

1. Repent. Mark 1:15. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Acts 2:38, "Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ " Acts 3:19, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."

2. Believe. Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."

3. Confess. 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Romans 10:9, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Salvation is an act of mercy from God reaching down to us. Even though we must participate in this process, it is God who gives us the faith to believe. Christ came to save all who will accept his offer.

As we have seen, salvation is a gift of mercy from God to whomever will accept it. Some people think this makes it too easy to be saved. They believe that it should be more difficult. Many want to "earn" their way to heaven by their good works, while others think that because they are saved by God’s grace, they can do whatever they want.

James asks a question in James 2:14, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" Here in this verse, James is not saying that we are saved by deeds. James 1:17-18 shows that he understands that salvation is not earned by our works. What James is really saying is that when we are saved, we will want to do good deeds. MacDonald wrote, "James is not saying that we are saved by faith plus works. To hold such a view would be to dishonor the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we were saved by faith plus works, then there would be two saviors - Jesus and ourselves. But the New Testament is very clear that Christ is the one and only Savior. What James is emphasizing is that we are not saved by a faith of words only but by that kind of faith which results in a life of good works. In other words, works are not the root of salvation but the fruit; they are not the cause but the effect."

This is an important difference to recognize. We cannot earn our salvation by scoring heavenly points from our good deeds. However, when we have accepted Christ into our heart, we will naturally want to share that love with others by doing good works.

Ephesians 2:4 teaches us that God saves us because "of his great love for us" and his rich mercy. Do you realize how much God loves you? His love is great toward you no matter how unworthy you may feel and no matter what others might think of you. God loves you abundantly! Verses 6-7 says, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." God used his Son to save us. Christ died on the cross for us that we might be able to receive God’s forgiveness. He was the Passover lamb which paid the sin price for all the Old Testament believers and all the New Testament Christians, including us.

This work is complete in Christ. One of Martin Luther’s clarion calls of the Reformation was "sola gratis" - grace only. We are saved solely by the grace of God. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." We see that our good works do not save us. In fact the very next verse after saying we are not saved by works, Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." We may do good works after we are saved, but it is grace that saves us, not the good works.

Many people wonder if they are really saved. But if you ever struggle with this, you need to stand on God’s promises in scripture. Jesus said in John 3:16 that God sent his son, "that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." And John wrote in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We know we are saved because God has promised us salvation in his word. If you are struggling with doubts, stand firm in God’s word.

We also know we are saved because God speaks to our heart. Romans 8:16 informs us, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Listen for that still, small voice of God speaking to your heart.

When we try to earn our way to heaven by doing good works, we are bound to fail because none of us are good enough. Romans 3:10 tells us, "As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’ " And Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." You see, we can do a lot of good things, and we can obey most of what’s in the Bible but James 2:10 tells us, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." We can never be good enough.

We all have failed God. The penalty for disobedience to God is eternal separation from him. But God in his mercy has provided a way for us. In the Old Testament the Hebrews were instructed to sacrifice a lamb as an atonement for their sins. They would have to do this often. This lamb sacrifice was a substitute which was looking forward to God’s true lamb sacrifice: his son Jesus who would be crucified on the cross for all of man’s sins in the past, the present, and the future. Romans 6:23 informs us, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." We have earned eternal death, but God sent his son Jesus that we might have eternal life.

It is very popular today to hear people say, "It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere in your faith." In our New Age culture the prevalent feeling is that all religions lead to God. But as trendy as that view is today, that is not what the Bible teaches.

In John 14:6 Jesus made this very definitive statement, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus tells us that there are not many roads to the Father but only one - through Christ. If you do not accept Jesus as your savior, you will not come to the Father. This is further explained in John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." Here we are plainly told that we stand condemned if we do not believe in the name of God’s one and only Son. We must believe in Jesus - not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Confucius, not the Hindu gods.

This is why it is essential that we get the word out about Jesus. We need to take evangelism seriously. There may be many sincere worshippers in the world, but they are sincerely wrong and need to hear the liberating message of the gospel.

Some people have difficulty accepting God in their lives because they have been raised to be self-reliant and to be responsible for their own actions. Many of these people are fine people. But each of us have weak areas in our life where we need divine direction. Each of us have opinions and thoughts which are self-centered and even harmful. Only when we allow God to have control of our lives, do we discover these dark and destructive areas of our personality.

Isaiah 55:8-9 explains why we need God’s help and guidance, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God understands things that we cannot possibly fathom. God can see the future in a way that we cannot possibly anticipate. God knows what is best for us and that is why we need to listen to his voice and follow his ways.

There are two kinds of faith.

1. We can intellectually believe. James 2:19 tells us, "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!" Obviously that’s not enough!

2. We can believe in our heart. Romans 10:9 says, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

There are a lot of people that believe that there is a God, but this is different from believing with our heart. We are saved when we accept Christ into our heart as our personal Savior and allow him to be Lord of our life.

I think the following poem best describes what it means to believe with our heart.

I Believe God
by Paul T. Holliday

I believe God -
Though angry breakers
Cast their spray
Upon the shore,
I know that through the storm
He’ll keep me safe
Forevermore.

I believe God -
Though neither sun
Nor stars appear
For many days,
I trust Him in the darkest,
Wildest hours.
He knows my ways.

I believe God -
Though this frail ship
Be swept along
By tempest force,
I am assured at last
Of Harbor Home.
He charts my course.

This study on How Do You Know You’re Saved © 1999 by David Humpal, all rights reserved.
All scriptures unless otherwise noted are from the New International Version © 1971, Zondervan Bible Publishers

MacDonald: Believer’s Bible Commentary, New Testament volume, pg. 1044 © 1990, Thomas Nelson Publishers

I Believe God from the Complete Speaker’s Sourcebook pg. 41 © 1996, Zondervan Publishing House