How Can You Know?

A few years ago one of my sons was doing some video work for a local church. Part of his assignment was to ask people on the street how anyone can know that he is saved. Camera in hand, Israel hit the streets to record the various responses.

When Israel shared some of those responses with me, I was very surprised to learn that even among the people in the video who identified themselves as Christians, there was no real consensus about how we can be certain of our salvation. Since I always have a lot to say about almost any subject relating to the Bible, Israel asked me if I would answer the question on camera. I responded as follows:

 Romans 10:9 says that salvation comes from trusting Christ and that “it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord, and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Living Bible).

Salvation is the result of Grace. It cannot be earned. Nevertheless, we see from this scripture that assurance of our salvation is two pronged. First, we must believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead. Second, we must tell others that Jesus Christ is our own personal Savior—the Lord of our lives.

If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead, we cannot really keep such good news to ourselves. We look for every opportunity to share Christ with others. It is not an obligation; it is a privilege.

Romans 10 illustrates how faith and works combine to bring about salvation. We must believe in our hearts, and we must speak with our mouths. Salvation is never the result of works, but works are always the result of salvation. Paul said that he could not be given any special credit for preaching the Gospel because he could not restrain himself from doing it—even if he wanted to. His heart was so full of his love for Christ and his appreciation for what Christ had done for him that it overflowed into his speech.

And that is how we can know that we are saved. We believe that Jesus Christ is exactly who He says He is—the Son of God who was born of a virgin, died for our sins, and rose from the dead so that we could be saved. Because we believe this wonderful message, we gladly share the gospel with others and proclaim Christ as our savior whenever we have the opportunity.

For more articles by Joyce Swann, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/.