John 6:36 – All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

Do you ever doubt your salvation? I think all of us have had moments (or seasons) in our lives where we wonder if we really believed…if we had enough faith when we repented of our sins and surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

After all, faith is a spiritual thing. Its results are visible and tangible, but faith itself is unseen – hidden deep in our hearts, a conversation between us and a God we cannot see.

That’s why I take great comfort in the scriptures, upon which our faith is built. In the matter of assurance of our salvation, along with every other issue in life, we can plant our feet firmly on its validity and authority. It is inerrant truth, and unless we want to be like that man described in James (tossed about with every wind of doctrine and unstable in all our ways), we must trust what it says. We either believe it, or we don’t.

The “untrustworthiness” of ourselves is another reason to make us doubt. If we truly belong to God, why did we get so angry? Why did we make such a foolish decision? Regret, especially without repentance, can bring doubts about our salvation.

So, what does God’s Word say? If we believe Him enough to begin a relationship of faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross, we can believe what He says about our security.

1 Corinthians is a letter written to the church – those who believed in God and professed salvation in Him. As this letter unfolds, we discover they were guilty of some pretty heinous sins. Paul knew this when he sat down to write, so one would think he might begin by telling them he had serious doubts about their salvation, based on their behavior.

But he doesn’t.

As I’ve written before (here), he spends these first few verses describing what it means to be “in Christ.”

He calls them “sanctified saints.” Sanctified means to be “set apart” or to be “made holy.” When God the Father accepted us “in Christ” we are forever and ever made holy, not on our righteousness, but on account of the righteousness of Christ.

Remember Paul’s words in Philippians 3:9? He had full confidence in the future, even when facing his own mortality and coming death, because he was in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

If you want to go to heaven, you must be righteous. So righteous that you pass the test of the holiness of Almighty God, who cannot sin. If we depend on ourselves and how well we can live up to the faith we have in ourselves, we have excellent reason to fear and doubt.

But according to God’s Word – the same Word that draws our hearts to God and shows us the way of salvation, we are not depending on ourselves to get to heaven.

We get to heaven for one reason, and one reason only. The righteousness of Christ.

Heaven is a gift that God grants entry into for those who have put their faith in Jesus, His beloved Son. Jesus purchased your entrance, and when He saved you, it was forever. He will not deny His own.

Romans 10:8-13 – But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Have you confessed Jesus as Lord?

Have you believed in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead?

Then you will be saved.

The evidence of a person who belongs to Jesus is one who is uncomfortable with their own sin. They regret doing things they know offended God. They have a humble view of their own humanity. That’s a good thing. And if God is convicting you of the things He wants to change in you, repent and ask forgiveness. Willingness to repent and obey is also evidence that you belong to Him.

But don’t let regret steal your joy of what God has promised for those who put their faith in Jesus.

When doubts come, and of course they will come, as the devil delights in tormenting God’s people, let your heart be assured. If you asked God to save you, believing and trusting in what Jesus did for you on the cross, He promised He would, and He did.

Heaven isn’t ours because we did a good job while we lived our lives. Heaven is ours only because Jesus paid for our sins once and for all and we took Him at His word and believed.

John 6:39-40 – This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:47 – Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.