The seven most important questions you will ever ask...

Cont.
7. How can I be sure of my salvation?
The reality of your salvation will be directly in proportion to the authenticity of your repentance. If you fake it, you will certainly have a false conversion and eventually fall away from the faith.[1] That was the experience of Judas Iscariot, and you don’t want to follow in his steps.

The false convert (the hypocrite) is like a Christmas tree. He may look healthy and have ornamentation, but because he has no root, in time he will whither and die. But if you are "rooted and grounded"[2] as a Christian, you will grow in time (again, see Psalm One).

The bottom line will be your attitude to sin. For many people, lust is extremely pleasurable, and therefore probably the most difficult sin from which we turn. The unsaved world is mystified as to why any sane person would deny himself such pleasure. But, as a Christian, you know something the world doesn’t.

More than likely you love chocolate. You would be crazy to stop eating it--unless your doctor told you that were extremely allergic to it, and that the smallest amount would instantly kill you. Then you would have a good reason to keep it from your lips, despite the pleasure it would bring.

The Bible makes it clear that lust will kill you and then damn you in Hell:

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell" . . . "Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death" (Matthew 5:27-29, James 1:15).

So every time lust sweetly calls your name, you have a choice--to play the hypocrite and follow sin to death and Hell, or follow righteousness to everlasting life. Remember, any self-denial from sin doesn’t earn salvation. It’s simply evidence that you have truly been converted.

If you are a Christian, God promises that anything that life throws at you can only come by His permission. He will allow it because it will benefit you. That doesn’t mean that when it rains you won’t get wet. Lightning falls on the just and the unjust. It simply means that in the light of eternity, God will work every situation to your good.[3] Christianity doesn’t promise a smooth flight. But it does guarantee a safe landing.

In 1413, John Huss was summoned to appear before the Roman church council in Constance.[4] When he was thrown into a prison for nineteen months awaiting trial for his faith and then sentenced to death, he no doubt knew that God would work things out for his good. When he was burned alive at the stake and his charred, lifeless body fell among the ashes, the wonderful promise that God would work out for his good such an unspeakable horror remained unwavering.

On November 9th, 2006, "three Christian high school girls were beheaded as a Ramadan 'trophy' by Indonesian militants who conceived the idea after a visit to Philippine jihadists, a court heard. The girls' severed heads were dumped in plastic bags in their village in Indonesia's strife-torn Central Sulawesi province, along with a handwritten note threatening more such attacks. The note read: ‘Wanted: 100 more Christian heads, teenaged or adult, male or female; blood shall be answered with blood, soul with soul, head with head.'"[5]

In Malatya, Turkey, April 18th 2007, three Christian men who were working in a Bible Publishing office were accosted by Moslems who had only days earlier attended their Christian Easter services. Their hands and feet were bound and they were tortured with butcher knives (for two hours), and finally had their throats cut. Each of the murderers carried a note saying "We did this for our country. They were attacking our religion."[6]

In each and every case of horrific persecution, those who love God and are called to His purposes can stand on the wonderful assurance that He will work all things out to their good.

In closing, look at how this Christian mother’s faith holds her in a fiery trial (she wrote to our ministry about a gospel tract):

"In June my breast cancer became advanced bone cancer and this tract has been an excellent tool to share as I give my testimony in churches or just one on one. I have 6 children so God has given our family a 'megaphone' through this cancer diagnosis which is opening many doors to point others to Jesus . . . I am asking permission to make copies of 'I Have A Problem' tract to use in upcoming events. I am attending a woman's retreat at the first of February . I will be at the back of the room on a sick bed. This will certainly allow me to briefly interact with many who come my way to pray for me and I for them! Bone cancer is really painful and debilitating. This attracts interest. I do not want to waste my cancer! MY HEART'S DESIRE IS TO POINT OTHERS TO JESUS!"

So don’t trust in Jesus because you are afraid of what tomorrow will bring. Trust in Him because you are a sinner and you need a Savior on the day of Judgment. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but even death itself cannot separate us from Him , look at this wonderful promise from the Word of God. Read it purposely, meditate on it thoughtfully, memorize it, and then believe it with all of your heart:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35-39)