I received the following important question from a web visitor. I
thought the question was so important that I decided to save the question
and answer for the benefit of many others. ..
Hi, i know that the only way to Heaven is through faith alone in the blood of Christ. I live a wicked sinful lifestyle and i believe the lord is taking away my peace. I’m not sure if i believe on Christ alone for salvation but i want to. I always do the Just in case prayer, just in case I’m not saved. I just want to rely on Him alone. Please help?
Gods graces, Keegan
Here is my Biblical response:
Hello Keegan,
I can help you! First, thank you for visiting my website ministry. It is my privilege and blessing to help others in the Lord, and I am so glad that you wrote to me with your question.
To answer your question, there is a story in the Holy Bible about a man whose son was afflicted by demons and frequently threw himself in the fire, suicidal. The father came to the Lord for help. ...Mark 9:21-24, "And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."
I shared this precious Scripture passage with you, because you mentioned some doubts. This man, like you my friend, said he believed, but he also had some unbelief. The truth is that there can be no faith without doubt, otherwise it would be knowledge. If we know something to be true, then it does not require faith to accept it. The reason why we need to place our FAITH (TRUST) in the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross, buried and bodily resurrected three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-6), is because we don't KNOW for certain if these things are facts. The Bible confirms this truth in Romans 8:24, "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?"
So your doubts are perfectly normal and acceptable! I wrote an article years ago about a chair illustration, which highlights the Biblical truth I am sharing with you...http://www.jesusisprecious.org/articles/chair_illustration.htm
The lack of peace you are feeling is called "religious scrupulosity." How's that for a big word? I had never heard the term until a web visitor one day asked me about it. So i wrote an article about it...
http://www.jesusisprecious.org/articles/religious_scrupulosity.htm
Since we are all still horrible sinners as believers, we ALL experience some degree of religious scrupulosity. You are not the only Christian who struggles with sin. The apostle Paul, one of the greatest Christians who ever lived, said he continually did the sinful things that he didn't want to do, and likewise failed to do the things that he knew that he should be doing (Romans 7:14-25). God only had one Child without sin, but He never had a child without temptation (Hebrews 4:14-16). God never had a child without suffering (Romans 8:17).
When we sin as believers (and we ALL do every day), we fall IN GRACE, never FROM GRACE. Romans 5:20, "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." We could never out-sin God's grace! Granted, we ought not deliberately sin as God's children (Romans 3:31). Hebrews 12:6-8 warns that God is not an absent Father, and He will chastise and scourge His children when we disobey. Every believer experiences God's hand of discipline at times! That is because we all go astray sometimes (Psalms 119:67, 71).
Proverbs 3:12, "For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." NO ONE has God's approval or permission to commit sin. So I am not make light of sin, God forbid. Albeit, the matter of man's eternal redemption has absolutely nothing to do with our human performance. Salvation is received, not achieved. Eternal life is a TAKE proposition, not a GIVE proposition. It is the free gift of God (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-10). A gift need merely be accepted; in the case of eternal life, by childlike faith (confidence) in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, believing that He became the sacrifice (our sin payment) on the cross. That is all God requires to be saved. Romans 8:24a, "For we are saved by hope..." Titus 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." In hope there is an element of doubt, because we don't KNOW for certain.
Now, we can KNOW that we are saved according to 1st John 5:13, by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God (1st John 3:24). Yet, our total hope is predicated on the belief that the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God (1st Peter 1:23; Luke 8:11). Most people refuse to believe on the dear Savior (John 5:40). Jesus didn't say they cannot come, He said they WILL NOT come. Salvation is a supernatural miracle of God in response to a person's faith in the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen (John 1:12-13; Romans 1:16).
I highly recommend reading a very helpful book by Michael P. Bowen titled, "I Never Knew You: The Horror Of The Coming Great White Throne Judgment And How You Can Avoid It!" ...https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/BTP/i_never_knew_you-excerpts.htm
Also, I recommend reading a book by my dear friend, Pastor Max D. Younce titled, "Salvation And The Public Invitation," which helped me greatly...
https://heritagebbc.com/library/salvationandthepublicinvitationweb-pdf
https://heritagebbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/salvationandthepublicinvitationweb.pdf
An excellent MP3 sermon by Pastor Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008) is called, "How Permanent Is Your Salvation," the sermon which inspired Michael P. Bowen to author the preceding book I mentioned. ...
http://www.jesusisprecious.org/sermons/audio/hank_lindstrom/how_permanent_is_your_salvation.mp3
One of my favorite preachers is Pastor Ralph "Yankee" Arnold. Here are many of his MP3 sermons, many of which clarify the simplicity of the Gospel, which I am confident will help you greatly. ...
https://www.soulwinning.info/sermons/pastor_ralph_yankee_arnold.htm
By God's grace I am here to help others in the Lord. If you have any questions, please keep asking until you have the 100% assurance that you are saved certain.
Remember that we are saved because of God's faithfulness, and not our faithfulness. Much of the confusion in the churches today is caused by well-meaning ignorant preachers who mix discipleship (Christian service) with sonship (salvation). Discipleship depends upon our faithfulness, but salvation is entirely of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). Discipleship as a believer is a matter of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1st Corinthians 3:11-15; 2nd Corinthians 5:9-11), but salvation is a sole matter of trusting in the precious blood of Jesus that washes our sins away (1st Peter 1:18-19; 1st John 1:7; Revelation 1:7).
Also, Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001) preached a wonderful MP3 sermon called, "How To Be Right With God." Pastor Hyles explains the difference between being right with God POSITIONALLY (saved) verses CONDITIONALLY (discipleship). ...http://www.jesusisprecious.org/sermons/audio/jack_hyles/how_to_be_right_with_god.mp3
We will always struggle with sin as believers until God takes us home to Heaven. We don't want to be ashamed when the Lord returns. Ephesians 2:10 says that God saved us by grace "UNTO GOOD WORKS." The Lord saved us so we wouldn't live in open sin anymore, but we all still falter. Proverbs 24:16, "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." Carefully notice that a just (i.e., righteous, or saved) falls seven times. In the Scriptures, seven is the number of perfection, or perpetuity. In the context of Proverbs 24:16 it refers to falling innumerable times.
That is why Jesus told Peter that we are not only expected to forgive seven times, but 7 times 70. Peter took the number seven literally, but Jesus enlightened him as to the true meaning of the use of that number. A saved man will fall again and again, because he or she is still in the flesh, a sinner. However, notice the beautiful next part of the verse... "AND RISETH UP AGAIN"! When we sin as believers, God's Holy Spirit deals with our heart. In the Old Testament, David commit adultery and murder, and for several months was in denial about what he had done. So God needed to send David a wake-up call, by sending Nathan the prophet to confront him.
David repented right away, but their were lifetime consequences. The unintended child died. David suffered much household conflict, broken family, adult children sinning and betraying him, deaths and defeat. David was forgiven, but suffering for his sins. Likewise, even though God will forgive the vilest sinner on earth (Isaiah 1:18), that cannot spare us from the earthly consequences of our bad decisions and sins. On earth, people define us by our lifetime highlights (usually the sins and mistakes we've made); but God, Who is omniscient, defines and judges us by our entire life lived (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
If your only hope of forgiveness of sins and eternal life is in Jesus Christ, because of what He did on the cross to pay for your sins, believing that He resurrected bodily from the dead three days later, you are saved. You can never lose your salvation. Once saved, always saved. The second (spiritual) birth is as irreversible as the first (physical) birth. Salvation is not a prayer. ...We can lose our love, happiness, peace and freedom, but we can never lose God's salvation.
God bless you Keegan!
Kindest regards,
David
“Nothing
in my future can ever affect the salvation that I have... Once you trust
the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are eternally secure!”
—Pastor Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008), a quote from the classic MP3 sermon
titled, “
