Why Do Godly Christians Doubt Their Salvation?

Long time no V.O.I.C.E. Wow, no kidding! It has been awhile since I have talked with you about getting assurance of your salvation. I apologize for the incredible delay. My little baby girl, Hannah Faith, decided that she wanted to arrive a little early (11 weeks!), so we have been very busy with adjusting. Thank you for your patience. I know how it is when you keep looking up that same Web site and finding no update. Frustrating!!! Well, let’s get right back into it.

Super-sensitive Christians

Perhaps you fit into this group along with me. I have an overactive conscience. At times, it has been a great blessing, but more than not, it’s been a deficit. A super-sensitive Christian is one who over analyzes, over examines, and over evaluates everything. If you fit into this group, you probably argue with yourself quite a bit. No doubt, you have been as frustrated as me that your conscience will not allow you to get away with anything. You condemn yourself for things that others wouldn’t second guess. Have you ever accidentally walked away with someone’s pen, and felt like you were guilty of grand theft until you got it back to them? At times you go back and forth in your mind whether or not you should apologize for something trivial or confess something that others didn’t even notice.

Your worst problem, however, is that you are a prime candidate for doubting your salvation. Most of the people I deal with about their assurance are people who are the super-sensitive Christian that I am. Crazy thing about it, they are usually the more spiritual people that I know. At the conclusion of a series of messages on assurance, I asked for a raise of hands from those who were still struggling with their assurance. My mouth dropped when the two godliest teen girls in the church raised their hands. Both of these young ladies were heading for Christian college for some type of ministry. Both had just recently returned from a missions trip to Mexico. Both were the type to stay up till midnight reading their Bible. Why do super-sensitive Christians doubt their salvation?

The Trap Most Super-sensitive Christians Fall Into

Because the super-sensitive Christian is always over-evaluating, they begin asking questions about what they did when they were saved.

• “What exactly did I say when I accepted Christ?”
• “What were my motives for going forward to receive Christ?”
• “Did I really mean it when I prayed?”
• “Did I really place ALL my faith in Jesus, or was there a little tiny doubt?”
• “If I feel now like I need to get saved again, doesn’t that prove my first decision wasn’t genuine?”
• “If I were truly saved, would I have so many doubts?”
• “Did I understand everything enough to make a legitimate decision?”
  

I dealt with one dear lady at a revival meeting who had been saved on a number of occasions. She had a super-sensitive conscience. The lines of frustration and stress that had prematurely etched her face gave witness to a life of tormenting doubt. I asked her, “When you accepted Christ, did you place your faith in Him?” Trembling and with tears, she replied, “I don’t know! I don’t know if I really believed! I don’t know if I really know how to believe!” My heart was grieved for this dear lady who had allowed herself to fall into a trap that many super-sensitive Christians fall into.

The trap I am referring to is examining your salvation on the basis of what you did or are doing. In the last issue we dealt with the Key to Victory in obtaining the assurance of your salvation: claiming the promises of God’s Word and standing on them. There is a great danger in the life of a super-sensitive Christian to place their confidence in things that they have done to prove the legitimacy of their salvation to themselves.

Let me put it this way: as they battle with obtaining their assurance, they seek to gain ground focusing on what they have done. In doing so, they almost always ignore, marginalize, or minimize what Christ has done. The following would be a typical conversation I have had with a super-sensitive Christian:

“Now, let me ask, do you believe that Jesus is God’s Son Who came to this earth, lived a perfect life, and died for your sins?” They reply, “Well of course,” in a marginalizing kind of voice. “And you are not trusting in anything but Christ’s blood to get you to heaven?” They return with a sound of impatience, “Yes, yes, obviously!” Then I say, “And you are not depending on any good works of your own to gain favor with God?” They reply, “NO! Not a bit!” So I say, “Well what’s the problem?” and they respond, “What about what I . . . And what if I . . . And I’m not sure I . . . And one of the thoughts I . . .” All their focus is on themselves.

Trying To Gain True Assurance With False Methods

Once they fall into the trap of evaluating their salvation with a self focus, they begin trying to prove their salvation by things they have done. I remember as a teen trying to console myself with “undeniable evidences” of my salvation. I would say things like:

• “Well, I must have meant my salvation, because I am faithful to church.”
• “I know I must be saved because I love God.”
• “I must be truly born again because I feel badly when I sin.”
• “I know I must be saved because I can just feel it inside.”

I never thought that I was saved because I did these things. I was, however, trying to prove to myself that I meant my trust in Christ. “So what is so wrong about that?” What’s wrong is it’s a false method to gain true assurance. There is a great danger in coming to conclusions or making assessments that are not based on Scripture. If our faith is not founded on the Word of God, it is not a faith that will be supported and empowered by true Spirit power. Nowhere in God’s Word does it say, “If you go to church, feel bad about sin, love Jesus, and feel fuzzy inside, you are saved.”

The truth of the matter is that a lost person could very well do all the things that I mentioned above. Could a lost person be faithful to church? Yes. Could a lost person love God? Yes. Could a lost person feel badly when they sin? Yes. You may be a lost person reading this and you believe you are saved because you have done the above listed things. If so, you are most certainly lost without true salvation.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

What the Bible does say is, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Focus on His promise to save the one who calls. Have you called? If “yes” then stand on God’s promise. True assurance can only be gained on the basis of God’s Word. You’ve got to have a specific verse, God’s promise, that you hold to as your confidence.

Some super-sensitive Christians place their focus on the prayer they said. Once again, this is all a focus on our part of receiving salvation rather than on His part of saving us. When we continue to focus on ourselves, we constantly struggle because we are focusing on weak human flesh.

Back To The Key

Once again, let’s get back to the key of assurance: faith in the promises of God. Do you believe Jesus is the spotless Son of God? Do you believe He is the only Savior? Do you believe every Word He spoke is true? Are you depending fully on His death on the cross for your salvation? Do you fully trust that Christ’s righteousness accounted to you will be acceptable to the Father? Do you believe that God’s wrath toward you was satisfied by Christ’s death on the cross? Have you personally received Christ? This is the key. Not what you have done, but believing on what He has done.

When a godly Christian doubts their salvation, the easy temptation is to prove it by what they are doing. Don’t let the devil take you down that path of self evaluation. Simply stand firm on Christ’s blood that has cleansed you. I find it helps to stop and thank the Lord for what He has done to get the focus off me and onto Him. I pray, “Thank you Lord for dying for me. Thank you that your blood has been applied to my sin. Thank you for saving me the minute I trusted you. Thank you for keeping me by your power. Thank you that no man can pluck me out of your hands.” Keep the focus on what He has done.

Before I go, let me give you a silly exercise that will, hopefully, make a good point. I want to give you seven statements; if you could honestly say these statements, then you can be sure you are NOT saved. Basically, this is the inverse of assurance; this would help someone know for sure they were lost. I know, I know, it’s kind of weird, but then again, I am working with a weird breed of super-sensitive Christians, so let’s do something a little different. Alright, here we go:

• “I refuse to acknowledge God’s Word as absolute truth.”
• “I’m confident that my good works, church membership, baptism, sacraments, and prayers will help me get to heaven someday.”
• “I really don’t believe that my sins are bad enough to deserve eternal hell.”
• “I’m satisfied just knowing the facts about Jesus; I’m not actually depending on Him to get me to heaven.”
• “I really don’t understand what the “Gospel” is, but I’ll just go along with everyone else.”
• “When I prayed that prayer, I didn’t mean a word of it. I just wanted to fit in.”
• “I’m not really sure what it takes to get to heaven.”

Could you honestly say any of the previous statements? If so, you can be sure you’re not saved. For the Christian, however, all of these statements are so foreign to your heart that your lips refuse to speak them. Fact is, they make you want to cry out, “I am fully trusting Christ’s death for my sin!” Where does that desire come from? An unregenerate heart? I think not! I Corinthians 12:3 reminds us that “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” If you, speaking from the true faith of your heart, can say that “Jesus Christ is God’s perfect Son Who died for my sins and purchased my salvation with His blood,” you have spoken that by the Holy Ghost.

My earnest desire for you is that you will make your calling and election sure. I trust this has been a help. We’ll pick this up here next time.