I am terrified that I am not saved. My pastor says that he is certain he is saved and I have heard others say this. I thought I was saved around age 16 (now 40+). I had used drugs and alcohol prior and used after. How can one be certain? I have said the sinners prayer many times but still lack assurance.
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Wanting to be saved
- Thread starter darrell2
- Start date
thegospelgeek
New Member
Get into God's word. Jesus said that he who hungers and thirst for righteousness shall be filled. Read what the Bible says about salvation. Ask God to reveal his word to you. Believe in Christ and trust him alone.
Luke 18 tells of a man who sought eternal life but ended up not wanting it as much as he thought he did. He would not trust Jesus.
Don't let me or anyone else tell you you are or are not saved. Seek Christ and his word, let the Holy Spirit do the rest. If you do this with all your heart, I beleive you will know.
Luke 18 tells of a man who sought eternal life but ended up not wanting it as much as he thought he did. He would not trust Jesus.
Don't let me or anyone else tell you you are or are not saved. Seek Christ and his word, let the Holy Spirit do the rest. If you do this with all your heart, I beleive you will know.
Saying a prayer is not repentance. I am not saying your are not saved for I have no way to examine your fruit. This is between you and the Lord. But Christ called for repentance. John the Baptist preached repentance. Peter called for repentance, the the "abc's" of becoming a christian or some memorized prayer. Just make sure you know the difference. My fear is that many have a false conversion because they trust in a prayer someone led them in.
Repent and trust in Christ.
Darrell, saying the sinners' prayer won't save you.
What you need to do is to repent and put your faith in Christ and His atonement on the cross on your behalf.
Have you come to the place where your sin grieves you? Have you come to the place where you are striving for holiness? Do you love God's word? Do you love fellowship with His people?
thegospelgeek
New Member
Not true, my wife worried about it all the time when we dating and early in our marriage. She was unsaved, but knew the plan of salvation. I on the other fall completely in your description. I was unsaved, didn't know how to be saved, and didn't really care.
That's not true, Donna. Many people who believe they're saved and are not are convicted by the Holy Spirit and begin to question their salvation because He reveals to them that they're not saved.
Some people who doubt their salvations are Christians who are just insecure about their faith. But others, and I believe the majority, are false converts who are being convicted and called by the Holy Spirit to get right with God.
I was a false convert for years and I was great at talking the talk, but it wasn't until the Holy Spirit showed me through God's word that all I was doing was playing games with God and giving Him lip service and storing up His wrath.
Tom Bryant
Well-Known Member
Darrell,
A couple of questions for you:
There's one other thought: Satan always talks in questions trying to bring doubt. God always speaks in exclamation points. Those questions you have may be - MAY BE - just Satan trying to use the hammer of doubt to keep you from really serving God. Assurance of salvation brings freedom to serve God.
A couple of questions for you:
- Do you have a desire for fellowship with God?
- Do you love being around the people of God?
- Are you growing in your relationship with the Lord?
- When you sin (and all of us do), what do you do about the sin? How do you feel about it?
There's one other thought: Satan always talks in questions trying to bring doubt. God always speaks in exclamation points. Those questions you have may be - MAY BE - just Satan trying to use the hammer of doubt to keep you from really serving God. Assurance of salvation brings freedom to serve God.
Repentence - I have been sorry for my sin and not wanting to do it again (drinking) but then a day, a week, 3 months later return to it. Several years ago God I think God spoke to me and told me to get serious or He was going to 'let me go'. Not sure what that meant - 'let me go'. But I was frightened, did not sleep for several days then went forward but since I felt I had already accepted Christ at 16 I wanted to be publicly baptized in obedience. Unfortunately, 6 months later a started drinking again. And continued and drifted away from God. Then I think God stuck me with a terrible sickness with high fever over 105 and I almost died. That really got my attention and since I have not consumed alcohol and have tried to live a holy life, but I still lack assurance and have been terrified at times that I am separated from God. Is it possible that God has let me go and there is no hope for me?
canadyjd
Well-Known Member
It is not possible for God to "let go" of someone who is saved and has indwelling Holy Spirit.
It is possible that you have never belonged to God, have never been in His hands, and thus don't have assurance because you are not saved. Therefore the conviction for sin that you feel is Holy Spirit moving in your life and drawing you toward God and true salvation.
It is possible that you are saved, but are a very immature Christian, having never been told the expections that are involved when a person is truly transformed by the power of God and has indwelling Holy Spirit. Therefore, your conviction is from indwelling Holy Spirit whom you are grieving with your sinful life.
Understand that God cannot be mocked. You can fool everyone else, and even fool yourself, but you cannot fool God. To come to Christ for salvation is to know Him and recognize Him as Lord of your life. He makes demands of His children concerning their behavior.
As others have said, search the scriptures; repent and believe; walk in a manner worthy of your profession of faith; never look back at your old life (you're not missing anything anyway); and live your life for the cause of Christ in the world.
Jesus said the one who perseveres to the end is the one who will be saved.
peace to you
raying:
canadyjd
Well-Known Member
Not to derail a thread, my friend, but be assured that to cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble is sin. darrell2 is obviously under conviction of Holy Spirit concerning his drinking. You are encouraging him to violate his conscience based on your beliefs about drinking, not his.
FTR, I have never seen a person drink alcohol that was not drinking to get buzzed, drunk or whatever you want to call it. One drink effects the mind.
Christ commands us to be sober minded. You cannot drink alcohol, any amount of alcohol, and not have it effect your mind. You cannot drink alcohol and obey the command of Christ to be sober minded.
peace to you
raying:Not to derail a thread, my friend, but be assured that to cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble is sin. darrell2 is obviously under conviction of Holy Spirit concerning his drinking. You are encouraging him to violate his conscience based on your beliefs about drinking, not his.
FTR, I have never seen a person drink alcohol that was not drinking to get buzzed, drunk or whatever you want to call it. One drink effects the mind.
Christ commands us to be sober minded. You cannot drink alcohol, any amount of alcohol, and not have it effect your mind. You cannot drink alcohol and obey the command of Christ to be sober minded.
peace to you
Not to derail it any further I completely disagree with you. To many times we want to place upon people the things we think are sin with no Scriptural evidence and just our mere like or dislike, a lot of the guilt people have come from well meaning Christians (in error none the less) who go outside Scripture because of an overreaction to surrounding culture
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Not to derail a thread, my friend, but be assured that to cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble is sin. darrell2 is obviously under conviction of Holy Spirit concerning his drinking. You are encouraging him to violate his conscience based on your beliefs about drinking, not his.
FTR, I have never seen a person drink alcohol that was not drinking to get buzzed, drunk or whatever you want to call it. One drink effects the mind.
Christ commands us to be sober minded. You cannot drink alcohol, any amount of alcohol, and not have it effect your mind. You cannot drink alcohol and obey the command of Christ to be sober minded.
peace to you
I agree totally
I hear Adrian Rodgers today talk about assurance. If you have doubts and not sure if its the Holy Spirit conviction,or the accuser Satan......Ask God to show you which is it.
Be assured, my friend, that if you put your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation then you are eternally secure.
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
John 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Beware of those who are fruit inspectors and those who will tell you that if you fall back into sin that there is a chance that you were never saved to begin with.
If you recognize your need of Savior because you are a sinner.
If you trust that Jesus Christ is God and has beed crucified, buried and rose from the dead to pay for your sin, Then You Are Saved.
Trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation and He promises that He will never cast you away no matter what you do. His Salvation is not conditioned on your behavior. Run from those who use guilt to keep you insecure.
Surrender your drinking problem to Jesus and trust Him to work in your life to change that.
Your eternal destiny is set. Even you cannot change that.
In Christ,
Dave
canadyjd
Well-Known Member
Scripture tells us to be sober minded. You cannot drink any amount of alcohol and obey the command to be sober minded. That is scriptural evidence for my position. Scripture tells us not to cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble.
darrell2 is clearly under conviction about his drinking, and yet you give him the false assurance that his drinking is not a problem....without even knowing how much he drinks or how often. You have given nothing but your opinion and are encouraging a brother in Christ to violate his conscience concerning drinking.
Too many times we follow the world and let the world tell us what is right and wrong and ignore what God says in His Word because we don't like the Truth.
Again, I have never, never, never, seen anyone drink alcohol that was not attempting to get "buzzed" or at least a "little drunk". One drink is all it takes and anyone being intellectually honest with themselves will admit that.
peace to you
raying:Tom Butler
New Member
Tom is asking the right questions. He wants to know where you are now. I know a bunch of folks who "said the prayer," only to come to the point where it offered no assurance. In fact, they came to the point where they were certain that their "salvation experience" was not salvation at all.
So, it's back to basics. Do you see sin as God sees it? Do you trust in Christ alone for your salvation? Do not trust in some magic words. Do not trust in your ability to "hold out faithful." I once heard a man say, "If I die and go to hell, I'l go trusting Him." You cannot save yourself. You cannot stop sinning enough to be saved. It is Christ who saves and Christ who keeps.
JohnDeereFan -
"Have you come to the place where your sin grieves you? Have you come to the place where you are striving for holiness? Do you love God's word? Do you love fellowship with His people?"
Yes to everything, though I am shy and have difficultly with the fellowship thing.
false converts <- this is what I have been fearing
Tom Bryant -
* Do you have a desire for fellowship with God? - YES
* Do you love being around the people of God? - yes sort of though I shy/insecure/low self esteem
* Are you growing in your relationship with the Lord? - yes
* When you sin (and all of us do), what do you do about the sin? How do you feel about it? - ask forgiveness. I realize it separates me from God so I want to avoid it
Tom Butler -
Do you see sin as God sees it? - God hates sin so I try to avoid sin, though it is enticing and pleasurable for a season.
Do you trust in Christ alone for your salvation? Maybe I really don't have genuine trust and that's the reason for my uncertainty and doubts.
BTW, I have not consumed alcohol in 15 months and do not desire it.
"Have you come to the place where your sin grieves you? Have you come to the place where you are striving for holiness? Do you love God's word? Do you love fellowship with His people?"
Yes to everything, though I am shy and have difficultly with the fellowship thing.
false converts <- this is what I have been fearing
Tom Bryant -
* Do you have a desire for fellowship with God? - YES
* Do you love being around the people of God? - yes sort of though I shy/insecure/low self esteem
* Are you growing in your relationship with the Lord? - yes
* When you sin (and all of us do), what do you do about the sin? How do you feel about it? - ask forgiveness. I realize it separates me from God so I want to avoid it
Tom Butler -
Do you see sin as God sees it? - God hates sin so I try to avoid sin, though it is enticing and pleasurable for a season.
Do you trust in Christ alone for your salvation? Maybe I really don't have genuine trust and that's the reason for my uncertainty and doubts.
BTW, I have not consumed alcohol in 15 months and do not desire it.