I know, 100% for
sure, without a doubt that if I were to die tonight I would go to heaven. I
haven't always known this, nor has it always been true. At one time, I was
actually going to hell. Let me tell you how I came to the point that I knew
beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was going to heaven.
When I was seven
years old, I asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me from my sins.
After this I received little or no spiritual training and as a result I
experienced little spiritual growth. A couple of years after this, I was
placed into a Christian school which I attended until I graduated.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until eleventh grade that I actually started to
listen and understand what was being taught in Bible class. At this time, I
began to doubt whether or not I was actually saved. This bothered me for a
while and I began to pray every night asking God to save me but unsure if he
had or not.
After I graduated,
I started going to church at Mission Blvd Baptist Church. This was the first
time that I received real spiritual training. I was going a Bible study
every night of the week and was soaking up every bit of it. After about a
year and a half, a revival swept through church and people who were
previously teaching Bible studies were now getting saved. I was not left
unaffected. At this same time, I began to doubt my own salvation. It was a
long time ago and I was just a kid. Did I really mean it? Was I really
saved? Not knowing what to do, I went to my best friend’s house. I knew that
he would not be home, but I also knew that his mom would be. We talked and
prayed four a couple of hours and then my friend came home and we talked and
prayed for a few more hours. The entire time that we were talking, we went
through the steps of salvation several times. Finally, I began to realize
that God wants to save me. He wants to save me so much that He came down and
died for me so that I could be saved. If I believed that Jesus was God and
that He died in my place for my sins, if I believed that and truly accepted
his offer of salvation, then I had to be saved. It is impossible for me not
to be saved if I have done all of that.
The following
Wednesday, Bro. Brian was preaching on doubting your salvation. He said that
if you have come to the place where you are not sure that you are saved,
don't try to think back about the time you got saved. Look at your life now.
If you believe that Christ died on the cross for your sins, and you are
truly accepting his offer now, then right now you are saved, and it doesn't
matter what happened before. That is what I did that night over at my
friend's house. I was already saved, but Satan had been causing me to doubt
my salvation off and on for a while and God said that tonight is the night.
I needed to get this behind me so that I could move on in my spiritual
growth.
I John 5:13 says
that you can know that you have eternal life. This is how you can know.
First you have to realize that God is absolutely righteous. He can't even
look on sin. If you have even told a lie, then you are not good enough to go
to heaven. Then believe that God loves you so much that he sent His Son to
die on a cross to pay for your sins. The pray, make Jesus the Lord of your
life, and accept His offer of salvation. He will change you and you will
know without doubt that when you die you will go to heaven and spend
eternity with Christ Jesus.
