The Assurance of Salvation

Is it possible to know for sure if you are going to heaven?

Yes!

(But of course first, one must be saved to start with. That is what the other pages in this website have been talking about. So before we talk about the Assurance of Salvation, let’s  emphasise once again the necessity of becoming a Christian [being saved]. There is a list of verses at the end of this page that explain how to be saved, or if you haven’t already visited the HOW page, then click on HOW in the navigation bar above. The verses on that page talk about how to be saved.)

Assurance

So first, salvation. That is step one (see the section below this one for the section that talks about salvation, being saved, becoming a child of God, etc).

 But, let us start with step two: assurance. Key words or phrases are marked in blue.

(All verses are taken from the New International Version of the Bible unless otherwise sited)

I John 5: 6b & 11-13  “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son HAS LIFE; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life.

Colossians 2:2 “My goal is that they (all those who have not met the Apostle Paul personally) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the FULL RICHES OF COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING, in order that they may KNOW the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ”.

I Thessalonians 1:5 “…when we brought you the Good News, it was not just meaningless chatter to you; no, you listened with great interest. What we told you produced a powerful effect upon you, for the HOLY SPIRIT gave you great and full ASSURANCE that what we said was true”. 

Hebrews 6: 17-19 “Because God wanted to MAKE the unchanging nature of his purpose very CLEAR to the heirs of what was PROMISED, he CONFIRMED it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may BE GREATLY ENCOURAGED We have this hope as an ANCHOR for the soul, FIRM and SECURE.

Hebrews 10: 23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the HOPE we profess, for he who promised is FAITHFUL”.

I John 4: 13  “This is how we KNOW that we live in him and he in us: He has GIVEN US HIS SPIRIT.”

Romans 8: 16 “The SPIRIT HIMSELF TESTIFIES with our spirit that we are God’s children. ”

Ephesians 1: 13-14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were MARKED in him WITH A SEAL, the PROMISED Holy Spirit, 14 who is a DEPOSIT GUARANTEEING our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were SEALED for the day of redemption.”

Philippeans 1: 6  (Paul speaking) “being CONFIDENT of this, that he who began a good work in you WILL CARRY IT ON TO COMPLETION until the day of Christ Jesus.”

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me HAS eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Do you have the assurance of your salvation? If not, could we talk? My email address is: [email protected] (that’s my name followed by the numbers zero, nine and eight). I spell it out like that because the zero is sometimes mistakenly thought to be the letter “O”.  So be sure to use the zero number key.

Being Saved

Remember, we mentioned above that this is step one. If you have not become a Christian yet, you need to get that taken care of first. The verses in this section talk about this experience of being saved. Other terms used to express “being saved” are expressed with these additional terms: born again, redeemed, made a child of God, the step of inheriting eternal life, etc. All of these expressions refer to becoming a Christian.  Some of the these verses are on other pages in this site. I repeat them here for convenience and besides even if you have read them already on other pages just remember, one learns better through repetition.

Romans 10:9 & 10 & 13 “ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be SAVED. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are SAVED”.  “ for, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be SAVED.”

Hebrews 10:39  “But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are SAVED”.

John 3:3 (Jesus speaking to Nicodemus) “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are BORN AGAIN.

Acts 16:31 ‘“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be SAVED.”

John 3:15 & 16 “…everyone who BELIEVES may have ETERNAL LIFE in him. 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.”

Ephesians 2:8 & 9 “For it is by grace you have been SAVED, through FAITH—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.”

John 1:11 – 13 “He (Jesus) came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did RECEIVE him, to those who BELIEVED in his name, he gave the right to BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but BORN OF GOD.

And of course there are many more verses that explain the need to be saved and that explain how to become saved (here is a clue: it is by faith). Click on the HOW button in the navigation menu above to review steps on how to be saved. Other phrases that talk about being saved are: be born again, become a child of God, be converted, etc).

IN REVIEW: To find verses in the Bible, it is important to know how to read their reference or their address as it were. Verses are listed first by the name of the book, for instance John. Then the chapter is listed, for example chapter, 6. Then the number of the verse is listed, number 47 for instance. So it would look like this: John 6:47  book, chapter:verse.

Here is a list of the books of the New Testament in the order in which they appear:

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy. Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John. Jude, Revelation.