2nd Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
I have a web visitor, who has literally written to me 57 TIMES over the past
year in a sincere attempt to settle the assurance of his salvation. I have
never witnessed such fear, uncertainty and torment of a man's soul over the
salvation of his soul. On a few occasions I sincerely thought he was messing
with me, and I even rebuked him a few times, because I felt he wasn't
reading the helpful books I sent to him, nor listening to the sermons I had
sent him to hear.
However, he humbled himself and I perceived from his words, that this poor man is a tormented soul, which other preachers had understandably lost patience with him. In frustration I simply told him that I loved him and would help him as long as it takes, if nothing else, just to comfort him on an ongoing basis as a true friend does.
Here is the latest question that he sent to me:
Dear David I want to tell you something. I called Kent Hovind before about my salvation doubt, and he kind of made feel good. He said the fact I think about it so much is good proof that I am saved, but the devil is trying to rob my joy over and over. Is this true?
Here is my biblical reply:
Hey ******,
To answer your question, fears over the assurance of salvation DOES evidence that you have faith in Jesus Christ, you are correct. I believe you are saved ******, just lacking a solid understanding of the Scriptures. The very thought of spending eternity in the fires of Hell, and missing out on all the blessings of Heaven, drove me to often tears for 7 miserable years. I was saved at age 13, but I was too shy to go forward to the alter at invitation time, so I trusted Christ silently in my soul from my pew. From that moment forward, I feared often. Every time I heard a sermon about Heaven and Hell, I got scared and cried, and worried, and couldn't find peace. I read every religious tract I could find, which all misled and confused me because they all concluded with praying a prayer.
Like you, I remember several dozens of times over a 7 year period, where I would pray something like this...Lord, I believe what this religious tract says about the Word of God in the Holy Bible. I KNOW that I am a guilty sinner (no doubt whatsoever there). I KNOW that I deserve to go to a literal burning Hell to be punished forever for my sins. I absolutely KNOW that that Jesus is the Son of God Who died on the cross for my sins, and I am trusting Him 100% to save me. Please save me if I am not saved. If I am saved, please show me as your child.
I told God that I was scared and desperately wanted and needed peace in the matter. I cried and cried and worried and worried. I would go through this prayer ritual, over and over, saying the same things, begging God to show me the truth. I prayed for God to either show me that I am saved, or that I am not saved, and I'll get saved immediately, because I don't want to go to Hell. I was so fearful and worried, unable to find peace in the matter. I suffered so much agony and inexplicable pain of soul. Why wouldn't God show me? Why did I doubt so much and fear as I did? I was frustrated not knowing. I wanted to KNOW 100% certain that I was saved, but I didn't know how.
When I was 20 years old at Bible college, I heard Dr. Jack Hyles preach a sermon called the "Sin Question and the Son Question," which scared me. He said to be saved, BOTH questions must be addressed. It is not enough to turn over a new leaf, you must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Likewise, it is not enough to believe on the Son of God, unless you first admit that you are a guilty sinner. You must know what you are being saved from. Did I know when I got saved that I was a sinner? I'm sure that I did, but I couldn't remember what my mindset was when I was 13 years old. Did I know that Jesus was God's Son? I was confident that I did, but what if? What if I wasn't really saved? What if I missed something or prayed wrong? What if? What if? What if?
I was terribly scared and talked to a Christian friend after the service that Sunday night. My friend saw that I was scared about being saved, and I'll never forget what he said to me. He asked me firmly, "Brother Dave, are you trusting Jesus alone as your only way to Heaven?" I replied quickly, "Yes, yes, absolutely!" He then said, "So if you go to Hell someday it is Jesus' fault, because you are trusting Him completely to save you!" Wow! That made me feel better. I am only trusting Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins and eternal life. The truth that he taught me did help me immensely, but I still had worries and uncertainty. How could I KNOW for certain?
The reason WHY I was so scared and worried, is because I had been focusing on what “I” had done to get saved. Did “I” pray right? Did “I” think right about all the details that “I” needed to know to be saved? Did “I” have enough faith? What if “I” left something out? What if “I” wasn't really saved? What if I thought “I” am saved, but am horrified one day to find out “I” had messed up and was deceived? Respectfully, those thoughts scared the Hell into me! Like you, I was being tortured in my soul by my ignorance of what God expected of me to be born-again. You are like me ******, an intellectually deeper-thinking person. I can tell you are intellectual, having an analytical mind. Like me, it's not just enough for someone to tell you that you're saved and not to worry about it anymore; but rather, guys like you and me need to understand the details, the "whys" of salvation, what makes it tick, so to speak.
Something else that really helped me was a truth that I learned from a visiting evangelist at my home church in Chicago. He preached on Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." He asked the question: How much "faith" do you need to be saved? The answer is "JUST ENOUGH!" That is, JUST ENOUGH to call upon the name of the Lord. No matter how many doubts we may have, if we have JUST ENOUGH faith to obey God, by placing our trust in Jesus, we are saved. That truth really gave me comfort, because I did have JUST ENOUGH confidence in Jesus to call upon Him to save me. That removed my worries over whether or not I had enough faith to be saved, I DID.
Even though my worries finally settled down a bit over the years, thinking about these truths I had learned, I didn't obtain 100% peace until I read a helpful book by Pastor Max D. Younce called, "Salvation And The Public Invitation."...https://heritagebbc.com/library/salvationandthepublicinvitationweb-pdf
http://www.jesusisprecious.org/books/max_younce/salvationandthepublicinvitationweb.pdf
Also, this simple "Am I Going To Heaven" tract by Dr. Younce is very eye-opening, at least it was for me...
I already knew that a person didn't need to walk an isle at invitation time, and could be saved simply by believing in their pew, because that is how I was saved. However, what really helped me and opened my eyes was grasping the truth of the Gospel. I had been taught to "trust Jesus" to be saved. I knew that Christ died, was buried and raised up, and so I did understand the Gospel. But in my mind for decades, I had the inferior mindset that you are saved by "trusting Jesus" through a sinner's prayer. I had never thought of salvation in the simple sense of embracing 3 facts: Christ DIED on the cross for my sins, He was BURIED and He RESURRECTED three days later from the dead.
Learning these simple truths gave me the EXACTNESS of what God expected from me to be saved. Being taught the CLARITY of the Gospel SOLIDIFIED my mindset regarding being saved. The "Gospel" (Good News) teaches us EXACTLY what we must believe to be saved, which is a blessing from God. Wouldn't it be terrible if we had to wonder, guess and not have that exactness? That is how the false religion of Islam works, where you do your best and hope that Allah is impressed with you. What a satanic religion of bondage, never having the 100% assurance that you are going to Heaven! You see, the Bible-believing Christian CAN KNOW 100% that he or she is going to Heaven, because our salvation is based upon the PROMISE of God “TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE” (1st Corinthians 1:21); and not upon our sincerity, performance or faithfulness to God.
Also, try to look at the big picture from God's view. Don't focus on whether you prayed right or missed something; but rather, try to look at what God expects from you. Mankind has sinned. When Adam sinned, he opened the floodgate of sin. Sin entered into the world and corrupted the human race, passing upon all men, which consequently brought death into the world (Romans 5:12). So God in His love decided to provide a means for mankind to be redeemed, a way to be reconciled back to God. Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:9, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Colossians 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Jesus went to the cross and paid our sin debt. He died a criminal's death, becoming as sin, to redeem us.
When the Jews had sinned in the Old Testament, in the Wilderness, fiery serpents started stinging and killing thousands of them. Moses prayed to the Lord for help. So God told Moses to mold some brass into the form of a serpent and hold that symbol up before the people. Anyone who looked to that brass serpent lived. That brass serpent symbolized Jesus, Who became as sin for the sins of the world. This explains the meaning of John 3:14-16, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Moses lifted up that serpent, which pictured Christ, Who became as sin for you and me (2nd Corinthians 5:17).Having said that, God simply expects us to LOOK TO JESUS (Isaiah 45:22) to be saved, placing our HOPE in what Christ did on the cross to pay for our sins. Jesus became our SIN PAYMENT on the cross. I heard this awesome quote today from Pastor Ralph "Yankee" Arnold...
That payment that Christ made, He put it to your account... Do you realize the opportunity that God has given to us, to be able to “GO INTO ALL THE WORLD.” And the thing that bothers people, is this thing about sin, because of the guilt that it brings, and all the wickedness that it brings; and you and I are the ONLY hope the people in this world—God has left us here and we are their only hope, if we don't explain the Gospel and make it clear!
SOURCE: Pastor Ralph “Yankee” Arnold; a quote from his sermon, “A Study of Romans Chapter 10”God simply wants us to place our trust in His only begotten Son. I hear a lot of preachers merely teaching people to "trust Jesus" to be saved, but Satan is very clever, knowing that many people merely join a religion and “goeth about to establish their own righteousness” (Romans 10:3-4) in Jesus' name, which is NOT salvation. I was saved at age 13, because I fully understood that Jesus was the only One who could save me, and I never for one second thought that I needed to do anything on my own to be saved. Sadly, many religious people are familiar with Jesus' name, but they are relying upon their “works” to be saved; such as, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Church of Christ and Catholics sinfully do. Romans 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
So try to look at salvation from God's point of view, that is, He simply wants you to place your sole trust in His only begotten Son. Acts 20:31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." It is okay to believe on the name of Jesus to be saved, just so long as you know that it is because of what He did on the cross, becoming the sacrifice for our sins and raising up three days later. If you ask a lot of people why they are "trusting Jesus," they cannot tell you. There are so-called "churches" today that literally deny Jesus resurrected from the dead. Unbelievable!
I hope that helps some, I really want you to find the same perfect peace, that I have had now for the past 10 years concerning salvation. By His wondrous grace and blessing, God knows that I have not doubted even once in 10 years. My faith is in the Good News of Jesus crucified, buried and risen. I highly recommend reading the free books online by Dr. Max Younce...Here is a beautiful MP3 sermon that I listened to twice today, called "The Call To Suffer" by Pastor Ralph "Yankee" Arnold.
The ONLY way you are going to settle this doctrinal matter is you've got to study, and Dr. Younce's books will help you, as they did me. You've got to keep at it: keep praying for God to show you that you are saved, keep listening to lots of Bible-preaching (everything you can find on repentance, faith and salvation), and keep studying the inspired King James Bible. I have tons of resources on my websites. If you are still worried, it is only because you still don't grasp what God expects from you to be saved. Remember, it is not what YOU DO that saves you, it is what JESUS DID on the cross! There are only TWO types of religions in the world: DO and DONE. That is, you either believe that you must DO something to merit salvation, or else you are trusting what Christ has already DONE on the cross to pay for your sins. It's that simple my friend.
Kindest regards,
To finish this article, here is a wonderful quote from Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951)...
“THE Gospel needs only to be preached in the power of the Holy Spirit to hold its own against every imitation and substitute that the mind of the natural man energized by Satan can devise.” —Pastor Harry Ironside, from his sermon, “ANOTHER GOSPEL.”
