Help with doubts of salvation

Browsing the internet, I came across a persons cry for help with doubting salvation. This persons complaints are typical of many out there hungering for assurance of salvation. I will list many things this person said and will comment on them.

"But see when I got older I was still feeling extremely empty.... God doesn't exist at all and maybe you're an atheist or something and you just don't wanna believe it. You know I try not to doubt sometimes and And sometimes you like feeldeep down and I don't think I do or else I wouldn't worry about it...."

This was two comments he was making. This is a common problem and that is the want of feelings. Feelings tend to be a persons sight into the spiritual realm they think. The hardest thing for people to learn is that feelings are entirely unreliable. I admit that they are nice to have when they are around but even nice feelings doesn't mean that all is well either. A person must look past their feelings into the face of Christ.

"But sometimes when I'm praying to God once in a while something creeps in and its like, what if you're just talking to yourself?"

I have encountered this problem with so many believers. I have been asked "What if I am only fooling myself? What if I am only mentally saying that I believe Jesus died for my sins when deep down I really do not?" I love to be asked that question because I immediately will say, "Jesus didn't die, the cool tomb revived Him and His disciples went and hid His body. When Jesus finally died then they disposed of the body so that everyone will believe that He was bodily resurrected." Almost without fail, the person hearing or reading this would cry out in complete disagreements saying that I was wrong. I then respond, "The fact that you responded so harshly is a guaranteed fact that deep down you do believe that Jesus died and was bodily raised. If you did doubt that deep down then you would have considered the pretend lies I just uttered." Almost always their face lights up realizing finally that they do believe that Christ did die for them and was bodily raised. The next time you hear someone questioning if they really believe the gospel then try telling them that Jesus really didn't rise and the moment they attack you for denying His death then you can point out that they just proved that they themselves do believe the gospel message that Jesus died for sin.

This poor individual is basing salvation from what he can see and feel and not from the promises of God. This is a terrible cycle that will not end until the person stops looking to themselves for assurance. This is a hard cycle to break since it is a habit. When you are convinced that feelings and external signs are required then it is very hard to break the habit of looking away from yourself to Christ.

I always ask a doubting person to write down on a piece of paper as to everything they can think of that would give them assurance of salvation. They might respond with, "If I can see a pattern of good works then I can believe that I am saved" and so on. I then tell them that everything that they jotted on that paper is a condition that they have erected and actually those things they have written are exactly what is keeping them from having assurance. If seeing a pattern of good works is what you require then how much do you need? What if after a year you stop doing good works? Such a condition will only ruin any hope of experiencing assurance with such foolish thinking.

This persons cry for help gives a little insight as to what conditions he has erected:

"And I really don't feel saved most of the time to begin with anyway. I'm selfish, envious, bitter, judgmental, angry blah blah (not all the time but I'm just saying). Even when I'm happy it seems I just want to change and be some model Christian more for my self than for God...I'd like to be like that but I'm not really. And I don't mean a bible thumper or someone who goes around shouting praise God to anyone who will listen. But someone who just lives life fully, happy, looks out for others, never looking on others with judgmental eyes, or envious ones for that matter."

I believe that it is safe to assume that he is doubting his salvation by what he sees in his life. He certainly is sin and work oriented rather than grace and Christ centered. He clearly shows his doubts of being forgiven of all trespasses and sins. I hate to burst this man's bubble, but Christians even from Paul's day didn't have the life he is desiring in his cry for help. Paul rarely counseled such wonderful people that this person believes Christians ought to be like. Christians that mature in the faith, learn to walk in the Spirit can be what he is desiring to be but it never is a description of what a person will be like if they are truly saved. Paul dealt with Christians fornicating and one even having sex with his step mother. He dealt with Christians getting drunk, divisions, envyings and so on. We have believers in Acts 19 that were saved for 2 years before finally burning their occult practices. Paul declared that all of Asia minor had forsook him. The people in Galatians were turning to faith and works. Paul dealt with constant problems in the Christian faith and such problems continue to this day. What this person is desiring is great but it isn't required for salvation and isn't a guaranteed result of salvation.

Here is another question that I have to ask doubters, "What is a Christian?" Very seldom do I ever get an answer that says, "A Christian is someone that has trusted the total saviorhood of Christ for salvation and is now called a Christian because he or she follows the teachings of Christ." Almost always I hear, "A Christian is someone that follows Christ whole heartedly. Who strives to be absolutely holy..." and so on and so forth. No wonder people doubt their salvation because they have an idea of what a Christian is supposed to be like and then they look at themselves and see that they do not measure up to their mental picture of a Christian and they doubt their salvation. Salvation is a gift to bad people and never a reward to good people. This again is a condition that people erect that they will not believe God has saved them until they first see a change in their life. They will start adhering to a list of rules they impose upon themselves thinking that if they do those things and refrain from sin then maybe they can conclude that they are saved.

"This also makes me think of the unforgivable sin and all that "anyone who tasted the Holy Spirit and turned away cannot come back cause it would be like crucifying Jesus over and over again."

I already done a post on Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-29. This person has done what many have done and that is to take an obscure passage that hardly any scholar can agree the same on and made it a sin that he can commit and probably has already done. I do not believe that the unpardonable sin can be committed today anyways as it was a statement that Jesus was making to a nation. We never hear about the possibility of that sin again. However, if such a sin existed today then such a person would not care for assurance of salvation. Assurance to him would be as an important as having a hair analysis done to see what minerals one is lacking in their diet. Crucifying Jesus over again was a warning to the Jews that were seeking to go back to the temple where animal sacrifices were being done. This would be a great shame since they would be identifying with those that nailed Christ to the cross. They were warned that Christ died once for all and returning to that was foolish since their are no more sacrifices for sins. Read the verses again and ask if any Christian is committing that sin today???

"If you're born again, they why do you still put the world first so much still? I hear people always say "Oh I became a Christian and I instantly stopped cussing, blah blha blha blah", "God took all my depression away" "All my fears went a way" "I stopped doing drugs blah blah blah" "

This person again views that if you are saved then some divine zap will instantly change you. He did say something valuable here as he talks about the sins that believers claim was taken away from them the moment they got saved by God. Sorry, God did not remove drugs, fears, depression, profanity from their lives. If God takes away one problem or sin then He is obligated to remove them all. You will not find one Bible verse where God took a sin that one was committing out of their lives. I get sick of hearing testimonies of people claiming that God took away their desire to drink alcohol. It's funny, I have yet to hear one male say, "God took away my lust for a good looking lady in a bikini where I have no desire to stare at her." You will find that lust is the universal sin that plagues man until he's either very old or dead. The reason such people quit certain sins is because Christ filled a void in their lives that drugs or alcohol used to fill.

"I never had any fantastic experience or change happen. I try to change but I'm not very successful. I ask God to change me and I don't really see it. I think God would be sick of me anyway being such a yoyo... Exactly like the type of person Jesus said not to be. So if Gods not changing me was I never saved?"

This is the hardest lesson for believers to learn and that is what you do once you are saved. This is where they incorporate rules into their lives to live by. They will seek to obey the law thinking that God will not be pleased with them if they break it. The law is not of faith and you cannot intertwine grace and law. Jesus Christ is grace and truth and the law is not of faith. People seeking to keep the law to make themselves perfect or acceptable in the sight of God and so on will experience failure and frustration.

"In the future does God see me like totally leaving him so he never accepts me now? What if I died in a down moment would I still go to heaven? Say I just was kind of on a walking down the street contemplating God's existence and got hit by a car even though had I lived, the next day would have been a great day and I would have been thanking him and apologizing for the night before?"

This persons problem again is all too common among many struggling with assurance. They view God's acceptance based upon their actions. What if I were to tell you that you are as righteous as Jesus Christ? This makes doubters feel so uneasy inside. I admit that it is hard to accept but it is true. One author said that our righteousness cannot make His righteousness any better and our wickedness cannot make His righteousness any worse. When we stand before God then I sure hope that you will not be trying to present any good works that you have done. If I were to tell you that if you were to attempt even one good work to be saved that God will reject you eternally then how many good works would you be trying to do? None, so stop viewing works as a condition for being saved or proving that you are saved. God has provided a covering for you so put away your rags and simply trust His (Jesus Christ).

People also seem to fail to understand that prior to the cross that blessings were all conditional based upon works. I believe it was Lewis Sperry Chafer that said that the OT can be described as saying, "Do good and I (God) will bless you" and after the death of Christ the saying now is, "Do good because I have already blessed you." Compare Jesus to Paul and you will notice that Jesus says, "Forgive to be forgiven" and Paul says, "Forgive because you already have been forgiven." In Ephesians it is said that we have already received an inheritance, we have already been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Paul always addresses the erring believer to see who he now is in Christ. Paul in Ephesians 5:8 shares first God's view of us as being children of light but then Paul goes on to say for us to walk now as children of light. We are to make our daily walk match who we are now positionally in Christ. You can be walking as a child of darkness but that makes no sense to do since God views you as a child of light.

All of God's wrath has been fully exhausted so Christians believing that God is angry with them is stating a lie. A Christian who doesn't "feel" worthy is stating a partial truth as we certainly are never worthy of such love but the fact is that we are in Christ so we are worthy in the sight of God apart from any works we do whether good or bad.

"Simple, can you doubt and be saved? What I mean is will he accept you back? And what if you do it again in the future?"

Will He accept you back? This person doesn't realize that a believer can never lose any form of acceptance with God. God the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus Christ (see John 17:23) and it is only based in Christ's good works and never ours. You might walk away from God in your daily walk but never in your position. You can be wallowing in sin at this present moment and you are as near and as dear to God as Jesus Christ is to Him. This is why feelings are entirely unreliable. Feelings are what tells a person that God is miles away, God is angry, God is done with you, God hasn't saved you and so on. Are you a Christian right now drunk on alcohol? OK, you are an idiot but you are as accepted and loved as that missionary sweating right now in some foreign country soon to be killed for his faith. You certainly will not receive the same rewards as he, but God isn't looking at him as more accepted than the drunken Christian idiot.

I believe that it was the missionary Hudson Taylor that struggled with doubt until 2nd Timothy 2:13 spoke to him that says, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." He came to realize that it all depended on His faithfulness and not Hudson Taylors. His lack of faith wouldn't alter God's faithfulness to him. A person that questions what would happen if they doubt must realize that salvation doesn't depend upon our faithfulness but His.

Assurance is found in believing a Person and the promise. It isn't found in how you feel, it isn't found in your works and it is certainly not found in anything other than Jesus Christ. You need to believe that your sins are forgiven and simply forgive yourself too. The reason that you do not forgive yourself is because you still see that same person you were before being saved as still there. You feel that you can only forgive yourself once that old person is gone and this is what is killing you.

Remember in Exodus 12 where people were to put the blood on the posts around the door to avoid the death angel from taking the life of the first born? Question, were the people inside the homes worried about how they have been living? Were they wondering about the quantity or quality of their faith? Did it matter if they were wallowing in sin at that moment? No, they showed their faith by applying the blood and God only saw the blood and passed over them. It didn't matter what they were doing on the inside of the house but what was on the outside. Did the death angel hesitate outside the home of any person that wasn't striving to live such holy lives that night even though they applied the blood to the door post? No, and God isn't hesitating with you either. You might be filled with sins but you have been covered with the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ if you trusted Him. Quite thinking that God is ready to hit you over the head with a hammer.

Imagine that Jesus Christ is a thermos. Imagine that the Holy Spirit is the screw top lid. Imagine that you are black coffee that obviously represents your sins. God the Father takes the coffee (you) and pours (places) it in Christ (thermos). Now the Holy Spirit who represents the screw top lid is now sealing the contents (you) inside very tight. Now when God looks at the thermos, does He see the coffee? No, He only sees the thermos which represents Jesus Christ as you are now in Jesus Christ as the Scriptures declare. God doesn't see the black coffee that you do so get your eyes off yourself and place them on the Son. Doesn't it make sense to look to the same place God the Father is? He sees the Son and so should you!! The reason why many suffer with doubts is due to being so sin centered. Every time they sin they are bent out of shape assuming that God is folding His arms in utter disgust. Start focusing on what God says you are and not what you see and feel yourself to be.