Are You Sure of Your Salvation?

"Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you" (2 Peter 1:10-11). Are you sure of your salvation? This is an important question. All throughout the New Testament we are warned not to assume we are on our way to heaven. The teachings of the apostles are clear—make certain about His calling and choosing you. But how do we do this? Many wrongly assume they are on their way to eternity with Christ because they are members of a certain church or denomination, regularly attend church, walked an aisle, prayed the "sinner’s prayer", signed a card, raised their hand, were baptized, "had a special revelation from the Holy Spirit" known as a "burning in the bosom", or had a charismatic spiritual experience. But none of those things are valid proofs for affirming your salvation. The New Testament teaches two ways we can be sure. These are sound doctrine and holy living.

If one is going to be sure of his or her salvation, then sound doctrine is essential. Doctrine, of course, means teaching. We must be sure our understanding of the Bible’s teaching particularly that of who Christ is and how salvation is obtained, is sound. In other words, theology matters. John wrote, "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9). Paul wrote, "He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard" (Col. 1:22-23). I can remember a couple friends from my first year of college who attended a church that taught in order to be saved one had to have the words "In Jesus name" said over them at their baptism followed by the experience of speaking in tongues. Obviously, such teaching goes against the very heart of the gospel—that salvation is by grace through faith (see Eph. 2:8-10). Quoting Romans 10:13, the pastor of this church insisted that, "Calling on the name of the Lord will not get you saved. It is a good step but it will not get you saved." Basically she called God a liar for it is He who said through the Apostle Paul, "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Rom. 10:13). My point in all this is that this church clearly had a misunderstanding of the Doctrines of Christ and Salvation. As a sad result, they proclaimed and believed "another gospel" (see Gal. 1:6-9).

Just as important as sound doctrine is holy living. In fact, holy living is the key to being sure you possess salvation. Jesus said, "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit" (Matt. 7:18). His point is if you see consistent and habitual corrupt fruit in your life, it is safe to assume you are a corrupt tree. In other words, true salvation produces holy living which in turn produces good fruit—the fruit of righteousness. This is Peter’s point in 2 Peter 1:1-11. The reality of our salvation leads to responsibility. The reality is that salvation is a gift of God’s abundant grace received through faith (1:1-2). He has given us everything we need to live a life of holiness (1:3-4). Because of this, it is our responsibility, not to earn our salvation, but to be sure we possess it. Notice he says we are to do so diligently: "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love" (1:5-7). Verse 8 is the key: "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." That means those things should be not only present but increasing in a believer’s life. The absence of such qualities is cause for alarm. This is why Peter said, "Therefore brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble" (1:10).

If those things Peter mentioned in verses 5-7 are a reality in your life then you have cause for assurance. But if they are lacking, verse 8 is clear; you become indistinguishable from one who is unsaved, robbing you of your assurance, and implying a sobering reality—you do not belong to God. So, are you sure of your salvation? There are a lot of things we can get wrong in this life—but not this. "Test yourselves to see if you are of the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test?" (2 Cor. 13:5).