What Can I Do If I Doubt My Salvation?

Hey, this is Pastor Adriel. If you're watching this video, I'm assuming it's because you've been wrestling with the question that I know many Christians struggle with. How can I be sure I'm saved? I struggle with assurance of salvation. For many years, I've had the privilege of answering questions about the Christian faith, and I can tell you that this question in particular, the question of assurance, is probably the most asked question among Christians among sincere believers who want to know that they're right with God, and yet, because they struggle with sin or because they struggle with doubt, are unsure. And so, right now I want to give you two reasons that you might be struggling with assurance as a sincere follower of Jesus. So, one of the first things I like to ask someone who's wrestling with this question of assurance is, is there something in your life that you know is dishonoring to the Lord, but that you're clinging to? Some sin that you're unwilling to offer up to the Lord. The Bible makes it very clear that as Christians, we can grieve the Holy Spirit. Paul says this to the Galatians.

None of us are perfect. We're going to continue to battle with sin, even as Christians. And yet, sometimes there are things that we know that we're doing that are displeasing to the Lord, and yet, instead of turning from them, repenting, we cling to them.

We conceal them. And when we do that, as I said, we're grieving the Holy Spirit, but we also, in one sense, experience this sense of distance when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. This is in line with the conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit. And it's really important for you to understand that there's a difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction is what we experience as Christians because the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us when we've sinned to lead us, draw us to repentance, showing us our sins, where we fall in short, so that we might confess them to the Lord.

There's always hope with conviction, the hope of the gospel, the hope of forgiveness. Condemnation, I would say, for a Christian is not something that comes from the Lord or from the Holy Spirit. There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, the apostle Paul said to the Romans in Romans 8. Condemnation is something that Christ has taken for you so that you might walk in newness of life. And so if you're experiencing as a follower of Jesus, someone who's placed your faith in Jesus' condemnation, that may not be from the Holy Spirit.

That might be from yourself. It might even be from Satan, the evil one, because he wants you to feel hopeless, like God could never forgive you. I've struggled with this sin for too long. And so, no, conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, and it's the Spirit of God working in you to draw you to repentance, to bring you into closer communion with God. And when we don't confess our sins, we feel that conviction.

We feel the weight of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes that can lead to us wondering, well, am I really saved? I think about what the psalmist David said in Psalm 31 as he was struggling with sin.

Before he confessed to sin, listen to what he said he was feeling, what he experienced. This is Psalm 32, verse 3 and 4. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.

My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. It could be that maybe one of the reasons we're feeling this distance from the Lord, wondering, okay, do I really belong to Jesus? Well, are we not confessing our sins? Are we clinging to some idol in our lives that's keeping us from communion with God? That dries up our spiritual vitality, as David was saying there, right?

My strength was dried up as in the heat of summer. And maybe you're experiencing that. I want to encourage you to go to the Lord, not with a sense of I'm condemned, God could never forgive me, but recognizing that he can and does forgive you through Jesus Christ, and that the conviction you experience is supposed to drive you to the Lord, clinging to his mercy as opposed to away from God. So ask yourself that question, am I being driven to God or away from God with this weight that I feel?

If it's driving me away from the Lord, that's probably not from the Lord. In addition, and I think that this is probably the most important thing, here's another reason why you might be struggling with assurance as a Christian. What are you looking to in order to give you confidence that you are truly saved and that your sins are indeed forgiven?

Here's the thing, you should be looking to works, good works, but not first and foremost, your good works. The primary anchor of your hope as a follower of Jesus, what you should stand upon in terms of your assurance is not something you do, how faithful you've been, how well you've done at reading your Bible every single morning or attending church, as important as those things are. First and foremost, your confidence has to come from the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for you. That's the gospel. That is the promises of the gospel that God has given you in his word that as surely as you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. You cannot feel that, but this is why faith is so important. You're not always going to feel close to God. You're not always going to feel forgiven, but you take God at his word, which is sure. God, I have confessed my sins to you.

I believe in Jesus Christ and your word says that if we confess our sins, you are indeed gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Too many Christians look primarily to themselves inward in order to gain assurance. They think, okay, I feel like I'm doing really well, and so I'm confident that I belong to Jesus, that I'm saved, but then the moment they begin to struggle, they say, oh, well, would a true Christian struggle with this sin?

It sort of gets at the first thing I was talking about. It's not that we can't see those things and experience conviction from the Holy Spirit and then turn to the Lord. We're going to wrestle with some of those questions, especially if we're engaging in sin and not confessing our sins, but first and foremost, the anchor of your soul, the hope that should give you confidence that you truly belong to the Lord is the promise of the gospel that God has given you in his word. I love another passage of scripture here in thinking about this. The book of Hebrews in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 6, the author of the Hebrews talking about the promise of God says this, verse 17, So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.

Isn't that beautiful? Here's what the New Testament says, the anchor of your soul, what should ground you in the Christian life is not first and foremost your faithfulness or your obedience. It is first and foremost the faithfulness and obedience of your high priest, Jesus Christ, who has passed into heaven on your behalf and ever lives to pray for you, to intercede for you, so that you know based on his promise, his sure promise, not on my feelings, not on how faithful I've been today, but based on his word, I stand forgiven.

And as we sink our teeth into those promises, we're enabled more and more to walk as the children of God, putting to death our sin by the power of the Holy Spirit and living, walking in newness of life. And by the way, this is one of the reasons why it's so important for us to understand this, why the devil does not want you to know and believe that God loves you and has forgiven you. Because if you always feel condemned, if you always feel like you're questioning, well, does God really love me? Has he really forgiven me? You're not going to be able to serve the Lord with joy and freedom like God wants you to.

You're always going to be focused on yourself. You know, does he really love me? Am I really saved?

Am I doing enough? But when you recognize and rest in the love of God for you through the gospel, through what Christ has done on your behalf, you're set free, no longer to be anxious about whether or not God loves you, but now to be anxious about or concerned about the good of your neighbor. God has loved you and he's given you his love so that you might give that love to the people around you.

And so look, if you're struggling with assurance, I want you to know, one, you're not alone. And personally, I can say as a minister of the gospel, I remember as a newer Christian wrestling with this very question myself, it's not hopeless. And if you feel hopeless, that's not from the Lord. God doesn't condemn his children, but he does convict them of sin.

And so my prayer for you is that you would grow in that sense of conviction and bring those things to the Lord, knowing, not based on how you feel, but based on his promise to you in scripture, knowing that he forgives you, that he accepts you, that he receives you as his very own child, and that you can walk in newness of life. At Sola Media, we produce theological content that applies the riches of the Reformation to the modern church. Our work is only made possible thanks to the generosity of thousands of supporters across the globe. Thanks to our Sola partners, who give generously every month, we can confidently pursue our mission to come alongside the church and produce resources for Reformation. But to continue our pace of publishing, we need your support. Would you consider joining many others and giving monthly as a Sola partner? This month, if you become a partner, we'll send you a complimentary copy of Michael Horton's book, Ordinary, Sustainable Faith in a Radical Restless World. In an age marked by burnout and sensationalism, Paul says that the Christian life looks like learning to live quietly, minding our own affairs, and working with our hands. To get a copy of Michael Horton's book, Ordinary, and to learn more about what it means to recover this kind of Christian living, simply head over to solamedia.org forward slash partner and help us reach even more people with the riches of the gospel. That's solamedia.org forward slash partner.