Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church, St Louis, MO
A great number of people wonder whether or not they’re really saved. Some have seasons of doubt and discouragement questioning whether or not they really know Christ. Some have even said: yea but I’m not good enough and I keep doubting my salvation. I just don’t know if I can keep myself saved. Some wonder: Have I committed the unforgivable sin? Have I blasphemed the Spirit? I just wonder if I’m bearing enough fruit. I don’t feel saved nor do I have a peace of heart.
I want to respond to such statements with some words of hope and pointers to the truth.
- Eternal security is more about God than it is about you. — The security of a person who is headed for heaven is not about man’s performance but about God’s perseverance! It’s not about your obedience but about God’ faithfulness. Remember it’s about God & His glory.
- If salvation ever depended upon you to save yourself or to keep yourself saved, then you would most surely be forever lost. — To be truthful, if your salvation really were dependent upon you and your good performance and your obedient standing, you’d surely and definitely lose your salvation. If you could lose it, you would. That’s how sinful we humans really are.
- The perseverance of the saints is more about God’s persevering with the saints than it is about the saints persevering with God to be saved. — We talk about persevering to the end and the reality that a person who is once saved will always be saved. And that’s true. But it’s true because God is the powerful One who perseveres with and holds His people firm till glory. So we know, then, that none whom God walks with and guards their souls shall ever be lost. That is utterly impossible to happen. The perseverance doctrine begins with God’s greatness and His glory and His faithful perseverance with all of His elect. This guarantees our glory.
- Gloriously and happily, no person will ever be good enough in his own merits to enter heaven, but through the merits of Jesus Christ, one is able to enter. — The more one looks inward and to his own performance, the more doubtful one will become about his salvation. The merits needed to enter heaven and the assurance given to be comforted with hope is not in our merits or performance but in Christ’s merits and in His righteousness. His work is sufficient and complete and worthy to save His people.
- A Christian who doubts his salvation evidences a lack of trust in the promises of Scripture and in the protection of God. — Though it is possible for true Christians to doubt their salvation, and many do, let it be said that when a person doubts his salvation and genuinely calls it into question, it’s not so much a problem with himself as it is a lack of trust in the gracious and manifold promises of God laid forth in Scripture about His faithful keeping of His own forever. God provides dozens and dozens of Scriptures in both Testaments to provide hope and comfort to His people so that despair would not creep in and doubts would be expelled. When these temptations to doubt come, run to God’s promises and camp on them and anchor your heart to the trustworthiness of His unchanging, perfect, sufficient, and truthful Word.
- In moments of despair and hardship, troubled saints must go to Scripture and rely fully and frequently on the promises of God. — Whether it is yourself or someone you know, you can take a troubled saint to the trustworthy promises and call them to praise and trust fully in God!
